Gayle and Snoop: Let’s Get Back To Decency

There was a time when we didn’t have to tell Black folks what was acceptable and unacceptable speech around folks grieving for deceased family members. There was a time when we didn’t have to have conversations with our Black men about respecting Black women, protecting them, loving them, treating them with reverence and care. Where did we go wrong?

If you’ve been on social media or Harriet Tubman’s internet, you know the shitstorm that has brewed in the last few days, and less than two weeks after the untimely deaths of NBA legend Kobe Bryant, his daughter, Gianna, and seven other passengers on his personal helicopter.

It all stems from an interview that WNBA legend, Lisa Leslie had with Gayle King. In the interviews, Gayle pointedly asked her about the 2003 “incident” where Kobe was accused of sexual assault. Lisa answered very diplomatically and truthfully: she and Kobe had visited bars over the course of their friendship; Kobe always made certain that she and other women were protected, and he acted like a man very much in love with his wife. That was Lisa’s full answer. Apparently, this wasn’t enough for Gayle, so she pressed on, asking the question in a different manner, and here is where things went to hell in a handbasket.

From the likes of Snoop Dogg, 50 Cent, and Lil Boosie, Black cishet men took to social media and called Gayle King everything but a child of God. Speech so ugly and vulgar that I dare not repeat it here, because it is just that disgusting. Oprah when she visited the Today show the next…