WNBA and Olympic champion Lisa Leslie had been friends with Kobe Bryant ever since the two met
near the start of their careers over 20 years ago. As they dominated the sport, Leslie watched Bryant grow and deal with some of the biggest challenges in his life. She sat down with "CBS This Morning" co-host Gayle King less than a week after Bryant, his daughter Gigi and seven others were killed in a helicopter crash.
Leslie’s remarks about Bryant’s ‘complicated’ legacy begin at 3:55-mark in video above
Gayle King's interview with Lisa Leslie isn't going over well with some viewers. On CBS This Morning, King asked the WNBA legend about her friendship with Kobe Bryant. Leslie, 47, met the Los Angeles Lakers star when she was 18 and the two remained close until his death on Jan. 26. During their sit down, King asked Leslie about Bryant's "complicated" legacy.
"It's been said that his legacy is complicated, because of a sexual assault charge, which was dismissed in 2003, 2004," King said during the Tuesday interview. "Is it complicated for you, as a woman, as a WNBA player?"
"It's not complicated for me at all," Leslie said. "Even if there's a few times that we've been at a club at the same time, Kobe's not the kind of guy, never been like, 'Lis, go get that girl, or tell her, or send her this.' I have other NBA friends that are like that. Kobe, he was never like that."
A 19-year-old hotel worker accused Bryant of sexual assault in 2003. Leslie said he is not "the kind of person that" would "do something to violate a woman or be aggressive in that way. That's just not the person that I know."
King pushed back, "But Lisa you wouldn't see it, though. As his friend, you wouldn't see it."
"And that's possible," Leslie replied. "I just don't believe that. And I'm not saying things didn't happen. I just don't believe that things [happened] with force.”
Charges against Bryant were dropped in 2004 and he publicly apologized to his accuser. "Although I truly believe this encounter between us was consensual, I recognize now that she did not and does not view this incident the same way I did," he said in a statement. They later settled in a sealed civil lawsuit.
"Is it even a fair question to talk about it, considering he's no longer with us and that it was resolved," King asked. "Or is it really part of his history?"
"I think that the media should be more respectful at this time," Leslie declared. "It's like, if you had questions about it, you've had many years to ask him that. I don't think it's something that we should keep hanging over his legacy. I mean, he went to — it went to trial."