CBS morning show host Gayle King had difficulty maintaining her composure on the heels of George Floyd’s death as she devoted a May 26 segment to the behavior of Amy Cooper.
King was visibly emotional as “CBS This Morning” correspondent Vladimir Duthiers introduced a news package about Cooper on Tuesday. Cooper, a white woman, made national headlines after Christian Cooper filmed her claiming she was being attacked by him while speaking to a 911 dispatcher. The pair, who did not know each other, were at odds because the avid birdwatcher Christian Cooper asked Amy Cooper to leash her cocker spaniel while they were in the Ramble area of New York City’s Central Park on Monday, May 25.
After Christian Cooper’s footage went viral, Amy Cooper was fired from her job and surrendered her dog to a rescue shelter.
“Once again, I say thank goodness that there’s videotape,” King said somberly. “You know, I think as a daughter of a Black man and a mother of a Black man, this is really too much for me today. I’m still rattled by the last story.”
The last story refers to Floyd, a 46-year-old Black man who died after he was arrested for a nonviolent offense in Minneapolis on Monday evening. Cellphone video taken by a bystander showed Minneapolis cop Derek Chauvin kneeling on Floyd’s neck as the handcuffed and prone man begged for relief.
“My stomach hurts. My neck hurts. Everything hurts,” pleaded a moaning Floyd. “[I need] water or something. Please. Please. I can’t breathe, officer. … I cannot breathe. I cannot breathe.”
Chauvin and three other officers were fired From the Minneapolis Police Department after video of the man’s arrest and struggles in his last moments went viral. No criminal charges have been filed and the incident is under investigation.
“She’s practically strangling her dog to make these false accusations against another black man,” King continued in discussing Amy Cooper. In Christian Cooper’s video, Amy Cooper’s dog struggled as she clutched his collar tightly while making the 911 call.
“I’m still so upset by that last story,” King continued. “A man is handcuffed underneath a car and people are pleading and we’re watching a man die. We go from that story now to this story where she falsely accuses a black man. I don’t even know what to do or how to handle this at this particular time.”
