CBS Mornings co-host Gayle King’s use of a gay slur on the show Thursday is generating complaints against King and the network.
The controversy was ignited when King quoted one of comedian Matteo Lane’s lines to him during an interview.
“Let’s talk about the stand-up. Can I just say one joke? I hope I don’t get in trouble,” King said to Lane (via Deadline) “You do a riff about white women who approached you, and they said something about cooking, and you said, ‘What in the f—try are you talking about?’ I thought that was hilarious. What does that mean?”
The F-word wasn’t the F-bomb, however, but a gay slur. The brief clip of King saying the word was posted by several users on X and can be seen below (warning, the slur is not bleeped).
In response to King, Lane said (via Deadline), “I love you, Gayle King. It means exactly what you think it means. White women, they’re fine during the day, but they have one sip of a rosé and they’re like, ‘Tonight’s about me!’ They won’t stop, I’m telling you. Horrible.”
Neither King nor CBS have made any statements regarding the controversy.
Gayle King’s Use Of The Gay Slur Outraged Some X Users
In his X post above that captures the snippet of Gayle King using the gay slur, Mikey Russo writes, “Not okay with @GayleKing using the f-slur in her interview with #MatteoLane on @cbs. That word has a very dark history for gay men. The fact it was used so casually and laughed at on morning TV, even if she was quoting his standup, is really depressing.”
Another X user, Neal, posted, “If you have to preface quoting a joke by saying, ‘I hope I don’t get in trouble you probably should pick another joke to quote.”
X user Irrelevant News also quoted King’s “I hope I don’t get in trouble” line along with the video clip, adding, “She might be hoping — but the backlash online says otherwise.”
The controversy surrounding King dampens the excitement over Blue Origin’s announcement on March 27 that King — along with Aisha Bowe, Amanda Nguyễn, Katy Perry, Kerianne Flynn and Lauren Sánchez — will be onboard the space company’s 11th human flight, the NS-31.
The NS flight, which stands for New Shepard, will launch on Monday, April 14.
King discussed the NS-31 flight with Bowe— a former NASA rocket scientist — on CBS Mornings on April 3 (see below), which was the same show where she quoted Matteo Lane’s gay slur.