It was Kelly’s first TV interview since being indicted for sexual assault the previous month. During the interview, he rose from his chair and began to scream and beat his chest when asked about the sexual abuse allegations made against him
“I am not a ‘gotcha’ kind of person,” said King. ” I always pride myself on my preparation. I just want to give you the opportunity to tell your story, however you want to tell it.”
King called Kelly’s team the day after air to check up on him. A representative apparently told her, “He [R. Kelly] wants to thank you for allowing people to see his passion and his pain.” King was surprised by the sentiment.
“He felt that my questions were fair. It’s not like he didn’t know we weren’t going to talk about that documentary. He wasn’t even upset about that. He just thought that people got to see how he was really feeling. I felt good about that.”
Media reports are linking King to a possible CNN primetime job. CNN chairman and CEO Chris Licht was for many years King’s executive producer on CBS This Morning. When asked, she didn’t confirm the reports but also didn’t unequivocally deny.
“I’m very close to Chris Licht. I like him very much, but on that question, ‘me no speak English,’” she said. “Let’s just say I have two years left on my contract with CBS, and I have no intention of leaving CBS.”
During the session’s Q&A, an audience member asked King about unbiased news reporting and how she approaches that in such a difficult environment.
King said that CBS News “works really hard to stick to the facts and then we let you draw your own conclusions.”
Making your own opinions
“What we need to do is just do our jobs the best we can. And when we make mistakes, we will tell you that,” King said. “I feel very confident and very proud of the work we do there [at CBS News].”
She added that viewers should “do their own due diligence,” saying, “Because if you’re only watching people that you want to broadcast and only have one opinion, and that’s all you listen to over and over again, then your opinions are already shaped.”
King also noted that she was extremely disappointed in how some networks covered the January 6 insurrection on the U.S. Capitol (but didn’t name names).
“I sat at my kitchen table that day, in the afternoon, and I just got so choked up and so sad by looking at Americans attacking other Americans,” said King. “And then to see that portrayed as ‘tourists out of control,’ or that it really wasn’t as bad as people are saying, that’s just not true. And so that scares me.”
She also brought up the recent legal battle between Dominion Voting Systems and Fox (again without naming the companies involved).
“I look at the lawsuit that’s going on right now, and to hear that you can say one thing on the air and say one thing privately and feeding the viewer something that you know isn’t true. I don’t even know how you can get away with that,” said King.
King’s not ready to retire. Quite the opposite, in fact.