Snoop Dogg’s highly-anticipated Red Table Talk with Jada Pinkett Smith aired on Wednesday, and Snoop admitted that he let his emotions get the best of him in his viral rant.
“It was a matter of me losing control because we still haven’t swallowed Nip … we still hurt behind that and then Kobe and his daughter,” Snoop said. “I lost a grandson, a grandmother, and then I gotta be strong in front of everybody… What about when I want to cry? What about when I’m hurt, and I’m feeling bad, and I feel disgusted, and I want to be angry, and I want to just blurt out, I can’t.”
He continued: “I let my emotions get the best of me, I was frustrated on top of just venting and doing it the wrong way.”
“Kobe was like the son and the brother to LA that we all needed, and we all loved him for that. From the early 90’s to his last days of him playing basketball, we watched him grow into a father, a mentor, a leader,” Snoop said. “He was the kind of guy that was forgiving, he was the kind of guy that was apologetic so I had to take that on and say ‘let me put a little bit of him in me.’ “
Snoop Dogg said he felt the need to protect Bryant’s legacy.
“When someone becomes a superhero – we don’t have a lot of them – but when someone becomes a superhero, it’s our job to protect that superhero,” Snoop said. “I needed to be bigger,” he continued. “I wanted to make sure what I said was said the right way, and I wanted to make sure that the message was across that we love Kobe and be respectful of Vanessa and those kids. That’s what the whole intent was to protect that woman and them babies over there because she’s still grieving, and let’s give them that respect.”
Snoop explained why he publicly apologized to King:
“Me apologizing was a big difference because people didn’t expect that, they thought I was going to hold on to my gangster,” Snoop explained. “People looking up to me and saying ‘I like what you did Snoop. How can we better ourselves and correct our mistakes, and not feel ashamed and not feel less of a man, because I said I’m sorry?’ “