Gayle King defends Justin Timberlake, a drunk driver. Faces backlash and comparisons to her handling of Kobe Bryant.

In a deeply personal and emotional piece written for the Oprah Daily website, King, 67, shares, “I first met Cheslie Kryst in May 2019, when the newly crowned Miss USA came on CBS This Morning to talk about how—for the first time in history—Miss USA, Miss Teen USA, and Miss America were all Black women.

Some people are saying, Gayle King can dish it out, but she can’t take it. When the journalist, who has a reputation for being fair and balanced, asked Kobe Bryant’s friend, basketball legend Lisa Leslie, to discuss a rape allegation from 2003, days after his tragic death, the backlash came swift and harsh.