Gayle King went to space. I have but one question. Was this a good use of her time?
Today, Katy Perry, Lauren Sánchez, and Gayle King were the headliners of an all-female Blue Origin flight. The crew showed off what they called “sexy blue designer spacesuits.” And allegedly, Katy Perry sang while in flight. The flight lasted 8 minutes, and my question is….who cares?
President Donald Trump is trying to eradicate Diversity, Equity and Inclusion initiatives from this country and corporations are falling in line. He wants to make significant changes to The National Museum of African American History and Culture. And he is trying to bring back monuments to Confederate generals and soldiers. And instead of doing some hard, on the ground journalism digging into any of this…Gayle King is going to space.
Jeff Bezos, the entrepreneur and business magnate who founded Amazon in 1994, also owns Blue Origin. He donated one million dollars to Trump’s inauguration and sat on the podium as the President took the Oath of Office. Bezos also owns the Washington Post, and recently announced a major shift to the newspaper’s opinion section, saying it would now advocate “personal liberties and free markets.”
Want to know what would have been a good idea? Instead of going on a trip in a rocket ship, she could have asked Bezos questions about why he went from opposing the President to donating millions to help him achieve his goals. A good question would have been to ask why he neutered the Washington Post’s opinion page (the same paper that broke the Watergate scandal and has a history of speaking truth to power) to make what they publish less critical of Trump’s administration. A great question would have been Ms. King asking herself if she was being used as a pawn in a billionaire’s publicity stunt.
I love Oprah. My grandmother and I used to watch her faithfully when she had a daily talk show…but I got words for her too. I know that Gayle is her best friend. I know she supports and loves her. But why is she out in these streets sobbing about King going into space? Oprah is the queen of asking powerful people uncomfortable questions. She didn’t roll her eyes when her best friend told her she was going to engage in this tomfoolery?
The whole scene was a mess. And while the world burns, we are supposed to care that Gayle King went to space. Chile please.