Bill Cosby and Snoop Dogg engaged in a cringeworthy and hotep-ish love fest on Thursday after the rapper’s social media rant against 60-something year old Black women.

The caping from the “Ain’t Nothing But A G Thang'' rapper threw a handful of salt on the wound left from a misogynoir-laced rant against Gayle King and Oprah Winfrey following the former’s widely criticized interview with Lisa Leslie. His championing of Cosby was unabashedly regressive given the past two years’ dialogue surrounding the former Cosby Show producer. The 48-year-old's repeated use of bitch and hoe reflected a persona we might expect from Snoop during the Doggystyle days. But many were hit with the harsh reality that growth ain’t for everybody.

Snoop was seemingly spurred to show his ass — boney as it may be — in the wake of the CBS This Morning interview, which aired Wednesday.

In the interview, King, 65, inquired about the late Kobe Bryant's 2003 sexual assault case during an interview with the retired WNBA player and close friend of the late Bryant. King asked about how she dealt with his "complicated legacy" as a friend and asserted the retired female athlete wouldn't be able to see any possible sexual predation from Bryant because of their companionship.

Some thought it was too soon for Bryant’s accusations to be brought up less than two weeks after his death. But as a journalist, not addressing Bryant's "complicated legacy" out of fear of backlash would have been cowardly. A strong interview doesn't ignore the elephant in the room — it tackles the difficult questions.

Where King did fail is in regards to objectivity, another requirement for a journalist in her setting.

Her line of questioning felt interrogative. She carried on the conversation as though Bryant's guilt had been decided, but it was never proven as the case was dropped. The all-knowingness she exuded was off-putting and felt vindictive.

Amid feeling the wrath of social media, King defended herself in an Instagram video. She stated the video was taken "out of context" and the conversation was more "wide-ranging" than it appeared. King also asserted she had no vendetta against Bryant and her personal interactions with him had been "warm." She said she too, would be angry if she saw just the clip that was circulating on the net.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Gayle King (@gayleking) on Feb 6, 2020 at 2:00am PST

For some, the explanation invited sentiments of forgiveness and understanding. Others, not so much.

Snoop Dogg was among the latter.

A series of nearly 10 posts relating to King and Oprah showed the rapper was clearly incensed by the interview. But he communicated his upset in a way that was misogynistic, violent, disrespectful and poorly researched.

View this post on Instagram

P. S. A. Let the family mourn in peace ????????????. #gayleking outta pocket FDHBiiiych. @officialboosieig I’m wit. U loc. ????????

A post shared by snoopdogg (@snoopdogg) on Feb 5, 2020 at 7:31pm PST

“Gayle King, out of pocket for that s**t, way out of pocket," the video begins. "What do you gain from that? I swear to God, we the worst, we the f**king worst. We expect more from you, Gayle, don’t you hang out with Oprah?"

Nothing too wild there. But the next statement is where he actually showed himself to be the "f**king worst."

“Why you all attacking us, we your people. You ain’t coming after f**king Harvey Weinstein asking him dumb-ass questions. I get sick of you all …I wanna call you one … Is it OK if I call her one," the rapper asks an unknown audience before proceeding. "Funky, dog-haired bitch, how dare you try and tarnish my motherf**king homeboy’s reputation, punk motherf**ker."

“Respect the family and back off, bitch, before we come get you.”

Nah, Snoop. Respect Black women.

Calling a 65-year-old woman a bitch is a tad more telling of the one pointing the finger than the one it’s being pointed at. Aside from the utterly disrespectful and disturbing commentary toward King, the irony and sheer wrongness of Snoop’s statements appeared tragically lost on him.

Firstly, King did interview Weinstein's lawyer last year and didn't hold back in that interview, either.

Secondly, both Snoop and fellow rapper Lil Boosie used their threat of violence as a response to her bringing up a Black man's alleged sexual violence. Make that make sense.

In Boosie’s own little rant against King, the “Wipe Me Down” rapper said King was "tarnishing" Bryant's image with the questions asked. But the only person responsible for Bryant damaging his legacy was Bryant — or his accuser if she did fabricate parts of the ordeal. We'll never know. But the onus is being placed on the wrong person.

Furthermore, Snoop suggested King was "attacking" her people as he went on-camera to publicly bash a Black woman and call her a "funky, dog-haired bitch" for doing her job. Perhaps, part of the rapper's frustration with King was that her conversation with Leslie was on national TV, therefore in front of the white gaze. But Snoop took his vitriol toward King to his audience of over 39 million Instagram followers. White people were watching all that s**t, too.

Behavior like his enforces the already low standard for the treatment of Black women. If the issue was with King embarrassing us in front of the white gaze, then how should Black women feel seeing a high profile Black man calling a Black woman old enough to be his mother, a bitch?

Any 1990s or early 2000s Snoop Dogg song could tell you he didn't have the highest regard for women. But his discography of misogynistic music dates back to at least a decade ago. Given the constant access to enlightenment provided by social media, of which Snoop has proven to be quite the active user, seeing that his art still imitates his life was disappointing. Over the years, his carefree antics, gospel music-making and aptitude for appearing on cooking shows softened his image. For many of us, he affectionately became Uncle Snoop. But it looks like old habits die hard.

To make matters worse, in a series of posts bashing King and Oprah, Snoop wrote "Free Bill Cosby” on the caption of a 2014 picture of Winfrey posing with Weinstein at the 20th Screen Actors Guild Award. The picture was taken over three years before allegations against Weinstein surfaced.

View this post on Instagram

Did that fake ass micheal Jackson shit to tarnish his name with them lying ass kids and here she is with a known rapist smiling and laughing. Fuck u and Gayle. Free bill Cosby.

A post shared by snoopdogg (@snoopdogg) on Feb 6, 2020 at 8:58am PST

Bryant’s accuser was white. So the hesitation to accept her account of everything, in addition to his guilt never being proven, is historically understandable. But a number of Cosby’s accusers were Black women.

Snoop’s Cosby caping even reached Cosby himself, who gladly soaked up the bit of encouragement with some bulls**t verbiage of his own.

Snoop – when they brought me to my gated community and placed me inside of my penthouse, they didn’t win nor did they silence me. It’s so sad and disappointing that successful Black Women are being used to tarnish… https://t.co/7fGNHIzXSH

— Bill Cosby (@BillCosby) February 6, 2020

“It’s so sad and disappointing that successful Black Women are being used to tarnish the image and legacy of successful Black Men even in death,” the 82-year-old wrote from prison. “On behalf of myself, Camille and my family, thank you, thank you and thank you. My heartfelt prayers are with Kobe and his family, as well as with Michael Jackson and his family. May their legacies live on forever.”

The rant against King was targeted. The Cosby stanning was a slap in the faces of 60 women, a number of whom were Black.

The rather recent #MuteRKelly movement, which came about a year before the rape allegations against Cosby resurfaced, was a wake-up call for Black men, or at least it should have been. The graphic accounts detailed in Surviving R. Kelly exemplified the power of turning a blind eye to someone’s character on the basis of a shared complexion and drew attention to the Black women who resultantly suffer. The movement was an explicit illustration of what happens when Black women are repeatedly thrown aside for the sake of protecting Black men.

Snoop and those who co-signed his everlasting Cosby love would have had to intentionally ignore the fruitful discussion which took place around dream hampton’s powerful docuseries. In this era, a conscious decision is required to continue placing value in the code of silence that has and continues to victimize women.

In another segment of his Instagram tirade, Snoop posted a picture of Leslie and Bryant, captioned “family values." The caption was code for what should now be an antiquated tradition of protecting brothers who could care less about being their sister’s keeper.

View this post on Instagram

Family values????????????????????????????⭐️????????

A post shared by snoopdogg (@snoopdogg) on Feb 6, 2020 at 10:19pm PST

That #MuteRKelly and Surviving R. Kelly resonated the way they did showed a change in the Black community's tides, where accountability is inching toward becoming the standard. When Kelis revealed in January that musical group The Neptunes played her, she said she felt comfortable in the revelation because she was no longer "protecting the sanctity of the Black man.”

Values are changing. And Snoop was loud and wrong.

Maybe Snoop, Boosie and their co-signers are mad King surfaced what Black America’s conscience has been trying to suppress since news of Bryant's death. Maybe they've been wanting to say this since King interviewed R. Kelly but couldn't because the majority of Black folks had come to a consensus on his cancellation.

What I do know is Snoop and his cheerleaders need to get with the times and we should never be starting another Black History Month like this again.

Webbie

Get relevant content delivered to you once a week