Gayle King, co-anchor of This Morning on CBS, told Stephen Colbert on Thursday night's Late Show that she had sent an email to Fox News host Dana Perino asking her to spread the word among her colleagues that "all black people don't look alike."
King was widely praised after her jaw-dropping interview with R. Kelly aired earlier this week—in which the singer vehemently denied all sexual abuse allegations against him while becoming increasingly irate and emotional, to the point where he stood up and began shouting aggressively at the camera.
Among those who heaped plaudits on King for keeping her composure—as well as her line of questioning—was host of Fox News show The Five, Jesse Watters. However, the compliment did not quite go to plan, according to Deadline.
"Hats off to Gayle King for totally redeeming herself after the Smollett fiasco," Watters said on Wednesday, mistaking her for ABC's Good Morning America host Robin Roberts, who interviewed Empire actor Jussie Smollett after he announced that he had been the victim of an alleged hate crime assault—one which was subsequently found to be a hoax.
Watters's co-host Dana Perino corrected him after the false remark, to which he responded, "Oh, I knew that," before apologizing.
King discussed the incident during Thursday's Late Show. "You've got a lot of praise for this from fellow journalists across the board," Colbert said during their conversation. "Were you happy to hear that Fox News's Jesse Watters gave you props for this interview after that Jussie Smollett interview you did?" the host asked jokingly. "He mistook you for Robin Roberts."
King responding by saying that she didn't normally watch Fox News but she soon found out about Watters's mistake when people sent her the clip. The CBS host told Colbert that she had subsequently contacted Perino to thank her for correcting Watters on his mistake during the show.
"Dana stood up for me and said, 'That wasn't Robin Roberts, that was Gayle King.' So I emailed Dana who I don't know and I said, 'Hi, just wanted to thank you for letting your colleague know that Robin Roberts and I—it was a great compliment, but thank you for letting him know that we're two different people,'" King said. "'Can you let the rest of your colleagues know that all black people don't look alike?'
"We had a little joke about it and I hope to meet her one day because that was very nice of her to do," King said of Perino.
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Aristos is a Newsweek science reporter with the London, U.K., bureau. He reports on science and health topics, including; animal, ... Read more
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