People get uncomfortable upon seeing how the then-daytime talk show queen pressed the former NBA star and asked him repeatedly if he was gay in the 1996 interview.
- Apr 29, 2020
AceShowbiz - Oprah Winfrey has been criticized over her old interview with Dennis Rodman. The former daytime talk show queen is accused of intimidating the then-NBA super star as footage of their 1996 interview has resurfaced online.
In the video, the media mogul questioned if the athlete's eccentric outfits and appearances, which were viewed as feminine at the time, were his way to present himself as a gay man. To this speculation, Dennis said that his presence didn't mean he's gay.
But Oprah was apparently not satisfied with the answer she got and pressed him further, asking the blunt question if he was gay. The former Chicago Bulls star once again gave a "no" answer.
This led Oprah to bring up Dennis' previous story of how he thought he might be gay when he was younger since he was only raised by women. She followed up this by asking once again if he was gay, to which he responded no again. The talk show host then asked him if he was bisexual, but Dennis insisted that he's not.
Oprah also brought up Dennis' autobiography where he mentions that he might be bisexual in his mind. Explaining this, he said, "Yeah, I can flirt with the idea...it doesn't mean I'm gonna act and do it. A lot of guys say 'I can never be with a man.' Who can you say you never thought about it?"
Seemingly still not convinced by his explanation, Oprah asked Dennis if all men think about it too. "Of course, if I asked one of these guys here if you would like to be with a man. 'No, no that's just disgusting.' How do you know it's dusting? You don't know," he argued.
Seeing this, people were shocked as to how offensive Oprah was toward Dennis during the interview. They were accusing the 66-year-old of intimidating the retired basketball player about his sexuality and trying to press him to come out as a gay man.
"Oprah repeatedly asking and intimidating Dennis Rodman about his sexuality. This was extremely toxic femininity," one person reacted to the video. Another commented, "She kept asking like he was going to break."
"NO MEANS NO," an Instagram user remarked. Another echoed the sentiment, "I cringed watching her ask this grown as man repeatedly if he were gay." Someone else accused Oprah of "targeting and tearing black men down for years."
One person, however, has come to Oprah's defense and claimed that she was just doing her job as a journalist. "Whatever. She was a great journalist. Asking all the questions everyone wanted to know at the time," the said person wrote back to the critics. "Don't be mad because you don't like the questions. She was definitely doing her job."
