Gayle King breaks her silence on Israel-Palestine scandal and makes shock claim about her network

Gayle King spoke out for the first time about CBS Mornings’ controversial interview with Ta-Nehisi Coates about Israel and Palestine.

The veteran newscaster has been under pressure in recent weeks over her role in co-host Tony Dokoupil’s tense interview with Ta-Nehisi Coates. 

Coates was on the show on September 30 to discuss his new book, The Message, which is highly critical of Israel and its invasion of Gaza.

Speaking at the Paley Center in New York Tuesday, King made the shock admission that the show now has to be mindful of how they approach ‘hot-button issues.’

‘You have to be very careful about how you ask the questions, how the questions are received. I think we don’t shy away from hard conversations, either. So, I think it’s been a learning thing for everybody,’ she added.

The veteran newscaster has been under pressure the past week over her role in co-host Tony Dokoupil’s tense interview with Ta-Nehisi Coates

She added: ‘Life is hard. The news is hard. Sometimes, you have hard conversations on television.’

Executive Producer Shawna Thomas has also admitted the show has listened to outside and inside pressure regarding the segment. 

‘I think we’ve learned a lot from those. I’m hoping those conversations make us better journalists and better listeners,’ she said, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Dokoupil who converted to Judaism and whose ex-wife and children live in Israel – accused Coates of being an ‘extremist’ and attacked him for not including an Israeli perspective.

King mostly sat in silence during the heated exchange, but Coates later claimed she tried to give him a heads up about the interview’s line of questioning.

Coates told Trevor Noah on his show that the anchor approached him before the interview and told him what she wanted to ask. 

‘Gayle came behind the stage before we went, and she had gone through the book. And I’m not saying she agreed with the book. She was like: ‘I want to ask you about this, I want to ask you about that,” he said.

Coates was ironically trying to defend King, claiming Dokoupil ‘commandeered’ the interview and King wasn’t able to ask anything she planned.

Executive Producer Shawna Thomas has also admitted the show has listened to outside and inside pressure regarding the segment

Nate Burleson, Vladimir Duthiers, Executive Producer Shawna Thomas, Gayle King and Tony Dokoupil attend the CBS Mornings’ panel at the Paley Center

‘The thing that went wrong in that interview, more than anything, as far as I’m concerned, is, and I know she’s getting a lot of stuff right now, so I really wanna say this. Gayle King is a great journalist and a great interviewer,’ Coates said.

Coates said King came well prepared with ‘handwritten notes’, before her co-host derailed the segment.

But his defense of King inadvertently opened her up to criticism of whether she should have told him anything about what she planned to ask. 

CBS defended her from the criticism, calling her ‘one of the most respected journalists in America’ and describing what she did as standard procedure.

‘She is known for her thorough preparation and note taking. She reads the books, consumes the content that will be discussed and extensively prepares for each interview on CBS Mornings,’ the network told DailyMail.com.

‘Engaging in pre-segment conversations with guests is a standard practice for any experienced host. Discussing a guest’s work ahead of time is a common approach to establish rapport.’

Dokoupi – who has since apologized to staff for his behavior – was reprimanded by CBS News’ chief executive Wendy McMahon, who said he ‘did not meet editorial standards for impartiality.’ 

But McMahon and head of newsgathering, Adrienne Roark, were publicly then criticized by Paramount chairwoman, Shari Redstone, who said a ‘mistake’ had been made and the episode was ‘not handled correctly’.

Dokoupil – whose two children and ex-wife live in Israel – was quick to criticize the author

Redstone also called Dokoupil to say she stood by him, but expressed her misgivings to Paramount co-chief executive George Cheeks.

Cheeks defended McMahon, saying she and her leadership team are ‘passionate advocates and stewards for CBS News standards’ and ‘that won’t change’.

The controversy led to an interview she did with the father of a girl who was kidnapped by Hamas in the October 7 attack on Israel.

The resurfaced clip of King interviewing Thomas Hand in November 2023 about the kidnap of his eight year-old daughter Emily by Hamas sparked claims of a CBS double standard.

‘Now this seems to be all about politics. What do you say about that? You know, you have innocent children and Palestinians who are dying, innocent Israeli children who are dying. And no one seems to be able to say “Enough, stop that”,’ King asked.

Hand laughed nervously and answered: ‘I’m not interested in politics at all. My only concern is getting Emily back.’

Emily was returned safely to her family a few weeks later, 50 days after being abducted during the massacre that killed 1,200 and sparked the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict.

But King’s tough line of questioning – which was backed by her CBS Mornings bosses  – sparked the ire of some viewers. 

Jewish Insider correspondent Lahav Harkov claimed King’s chat with Hand showed a double standard in how the two interviews were handled.

‘It violates CBS standards for Tony Dokoupil to ask Ta-Nehisi Coates tough questions about his anti-Israel screed but apparently it was totally fine for Gayle King to make accusations to the father of a hostage — who said nothing derogatory about Palestinians,’ he said.