Former US Ambassador Susan Rice has warned Snoop Dogg to cease attacks against Gayle King over her recent interview with retired WNBA star Lisa Leslie about Kobe Bryant's rape case.

In a tweet on Friday, Rice called the rapper's video despicable and gave him a bit of a warning.

'Gayle King is one of the most principled, fair and tough journalists alive. Snoop, back the **** off. You come for @GayleKing, you come against an army,' Rice wrote.

'You will lose, and it won’t be pretty,' she added.

Snoop Dogg was among those who threatened King online this week following her interview with Leslie nearly two weeks after Bryant, the former Los Angeles Lakers star was killed in a helicopter crash on January 26.

Former US Ambassador Susan Rice (left) has warned Snoop Dogg (right) to cease attacks against Gayle King over her recent interview with retired WNBA star Lisa Leslie about Kobe Bryant's rape case

In a tweet on Friday, Rice called the rapper's video despicable and gave him a bit of a warning. 'You come for @GayleKing, you come against an army,' Rice wrote. 'You will lose, and it won’t be pretty'

In her interview, King asked Leslie whether Bryant's legacy had been complicated by the accusation that he raped a woman at a Colorado resort in 2003.

Bryant said the two had consensual sex, but he later apologized for his behavior and settled a civil suit against him.

King was publicly criticized for the interview by Snoop Dogg, 50 Cent and Bill Cosby - who tweeted from jail.

In a profane video posted on Instagram and shared on other social media platforms, Snoop Dogg criticized King for attacking 'your people'.

He told her to 'back off ... before we come get you'.

On Saturday, Snoop Dogg posted a message on his Instagram that said he meant King no harm.

'I'm a non-violent person. When I said what I said, I spoke for the people who felt that that Gayle was very disrespectful toward Kobe and his family,' he said.

'I didn't want no harm to come to her, I didn't threaten her.'

He added: 'We speak from the heart. Some of you who have no heart don't understand that.'

King addressed the controversy in a video posted on social media on Thursday, saying CBS posted a 'salacious' clip that was 'taken out of context'. CBS responded hours later saying the excerpt 'did not reflect the nature and tone' of King's complete interview

King (left) has faced intense backlash over the question about Bryant, but she has also received suport. 'We fully support Gayle King and her integrity as a journalist,' CBS News President Susan Zirinsky (right) said

King's questions had attracted little notice as part of a wide-ranging interview shown on 'CBS This Morning.'

But then CBS - mistakenly, it said later - posted a video online that focused strictly on the discussion about the assault case.

King's critics essentially voiced some variation of what Leslie answered - that the media should be more respectful of Bryant so soon after his death and not discuss this stain upon his record - although usually in sharper terms.

Several others, including King's boss, CBS chief, Susan Zirinsky, came to the journalist's defense.

'We fully support Gayle King and her integrity as a journalist,' Zirinsky said. 'We find the threats against her or any journalist doing their job reprehensible.'

'The interview with Lisa Leslie was comprehensive and thoughtful,' Zirinsky said. 'We are a country where differences of opinion are welcome, but hateful and dangerous threats are completely unacceptable.'

Oprah fought back tears on Friday as she said her best friend King is 'not OK' and does not feel safe walking down the street without security

Among those who tweeted criticism of King's line of questioning was rapper 50 Cent

CBS would not discuss the nature of any private threats against King.

Her friend, Oprah Winfrey, said in an NBC interview that King had received death threats and was traveling with security.

Besides King's boss, other people have started to come to her defense, including Senator Cory Booker and NBC morning show host Willie Geist.

Leslie was a longtime friend of Bryant's, having known him since he was 18. In her Instagram video, King explained that she asked about the rape allegation because: 'I wanted to get Lisa's take on it as a friend, what she thought, where that should stand'

'For those threatening her and inciting violence, stop it immediately,' Booker tweeted. 'This is unacceptable. We must do better.'

Geist, from the 'Today' show and MSNBC's 'Morning Joe,' tweeted that 'the threats against Gayle King for asking a fair question in the course of a long interview are absolutely disgusting. Gayle is one of the most thoughtful people in our business'.

New Yorker writer Jelani Cobb tweeted that there was a way to disagree with King's questions 'without lapsing into misogyny, threats and ignorance'.

In an essay posted on the web site The Undefeated, Morehouse College journalism professor David Dennis Jr. wondered why it was two black women - King and Leslie - who were the ones publicly wrestling with this aspect of Bryan't legacy.

'We, myself included, have to take time in our healing to try to understand why we either forgave Bryant or never bothered to hold him accountable,' Dennis wrote.

'It's fair to believe that the work Bryant put in for women in sports in the years since the rape allegation have shown true contrition and rehabilitation, but nothing will erase that night... To demand silence over the case does an injustice to the victims of sexual violence as well as the work Bryant did to try to make it right.'

Bryant and his wife Vanessa in 2003 at a press conference where he addressed the scandal