Gayle King Angry at CBS For Kobe Bryant Clip

Gayle King was subjected to all manner of backlash after CBS This Morning tweeted out a section of her interview with Lisa Leslie discussing Kobe Bryant. In the teaser, King presses Leslie on if she views her friend's legacy as complicated as a result of the sexual assault case that ended with an negotiated sentiment.

It was a perfectly fair question to ask. It is part of the total Bryant story right now and even more so when discussing enduring legacy. Of course, not everyone agrees, therefore the controversy.

King was apparently taken aback by the promotional clip CBS chose to use, which, obviously, was small part of a more expansive interview.

"Unbeknownst to me, my network put up a clip from a very wide-ranging interview -- totally taken out of context -- and when you see it that way, it’s very jarring," she said in a video this morning. "It’s jarring to me. I didn’t even know anything about it."

"I know that if I had only seen the clip that you saw, I’d be extremely angry with me too,” she added.

One rarely sees an anchor throw their social media team under the bus with such force.

"It was very powerful when she looked me in the eye, as a member of the media, to say, 'It’s time for the media to leave it alone and to back off,'" King said.

"I felt really good about the interview ... so, for the network to take the most salacious part when taken out of context, and put it up for people who didn’t see the whole interview, is very upsetting to me and that’s something I’m going to have to deal with them."

"There will be a very intense discussion about that."

It's easy to sit back and quarterback this thing from the sidelines. Yet, it's really bizarre to see King make the right journalistic choice then wilt when facing criticism. It's even more bizarre considering King had a front row seat for Charlie Rose's downfall as the MeToo movement gained steam.

Her use of the word "salacious" is also befuddling. She asked the question! Who is she accusing of being salacious?

Anyway, bizarre stuff all around here.

Perhaps it's too charitable of me to believe most people understand a Twitter clip doesn't always reflect the whole work. And it's usually best practice to put the most interesting stuff out there to drum up interest.