A resurfaced video of Gayle King’s interview with Thomas Hand about the kidnapping of his eight-year-old daughter, Emily, by Hamas in November 2023 is making waves.
Many have claimed King got away with grilling the father of a child hostage, which they say, was backed by her CBS Morning bosses.
Just a few days ago, King’s colleague Tony Dokoupil, challenged anti-Israel author Ta-Neshi Coates during his interview with CBS Morning and this has sparked online allegations, with some users accusing CBS of double standard.
This double-standard accusation followed Coates appearing on the show in September to discuss his new book “The Message” with the show’s hosts Gayle King, Tony Dokoupil, and Nate Burleson.
Gayle was largely silent during the segment and only asked one question, which caused online outrage, with her journalistic credibility being questioned.
Related stories
Dokoupil, who is Jewish and has two children and an ex-wife living in Israel, accused Coates of being an ‘extremist’ and attacked his work that focuses on the voices of Palestinians in the West Bank.
Dokoupil questioned why Coates’ book opted to leave out any mention of Israel’s enemies, asking Coates:
“Is it because you just don’t believe that Israel in any condition has a right to exist?”
Coates responded: “I wrote a 260-page book. It is not a treatise on the entirety of the conflict between the Israelis and the Palestinians.”
Dokoupil’s questioning resulted in a back-and-forth between him and Coates for the majority of the nearly seven-minute interview.
On his appearance on Trevor Noah’s “What Now? Podcast, Coates revealed that Gayle King informed him of the questions she would be asking him backstage.
He went on to say: “I’m not saying she agreed with the book. But she was like, ‘I’m going to ask you about this. I’m going to ask you about that. It was her handwritten notes,” he further explained.
On Dokoupil, he mentioned: “While on the one hand, he probably did me a service. By just kind of commandeering that interview, I don’t think he did Nate and Gayle a service, and I’m really, really sorry for them.”
This piece of information caused fans to criticize Gayle King, with some saying, “She’s no journalist. She’s Oprah’s friend who scored the gig because of it”.
CBS has however defended Gayle King. The network said King did not tip off The Message author to the questions beforehand and had simply been ‘engaging in a pre-segment conversation’ that was ‘standard practice for any experienced host.’
Gayle King is yet to respond to the matter of her backlash.
