One of the ways I like to start my day is by watching CBS in the Morning. One of the presenters on that show—TV legend Gayle King—is someone I’m personally a fan of. I love her fashion sense. Most people watched that 2019 interview she did with disgraced R&B artist R Kelly to watch him lose his mind and to laugh at his meltdown. Meanwhile, I was admiring King’s outfit, a black scalloped trim dress from clothing brand Milly. (Milly, if you’re reading this, please start making them again. I will cry if I don’t get one.)
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Gayle King received recognition for being one of the few people at CBS to speak out against the network for keeping key findings of sexual misconduct within the company private, calling for them to have full transparency.
King, however, has recently come under fire for using a gay slur on CBS in the Morning. During a segment on last Thursday’s show, King interviewed comedian Matteo Lane to discuss his new cookbook, Your Pasta Sucks. When the topic shifted to Lane’s stand-up, King prefaced:
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“Can I just say one joke? I hope I don’t get in trouble.”
“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?”
Matteo Lane immediately burst out in laughter
“I love you, Gayle King. It means exactly what you think it means,” Lane responded. “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.”
All in all, it seemed like there was no animosity, and it was all in good fun. Nonetheless, people on social media did not take kindly to Gayle casually dropping the F-bomb, even in this context.
Twitter user MikeyRusso comments on how the word originates from a very dark period in LGBTQ+ life, and its casual use makes light of it.
This brings up a valid point. The term f*ggot was used to describe how gay people were executed. In the past, when homosexuality was punishable by death, a common type of execution was by burning at the stake. The word f*ggot is used to refer to a bundle of sticks which are used as kindling for the flames.
At the same time, King doesn’t strike me as someone who holds hatred in their heart. She has a solid track record of standing with the LGBTQ+ community. Following nationwide backlashes in 2022 against pride events by transphobic/white supremacist groups, she publicly stated the importance of pride events and condemned these groups attacking the community.
The context in which Gayle said it was not derogatory, and Lane didn’t seem to be made uncomfortable by the word. Again, it is important to understand the historical context of these words and what they mean, and also the current context in which they’re being used.
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