Gayle King says that Oprah Winfrey doubted she’d be able to land her recent viral interview with JAY-Z. Speaking with Access Hollywood in Las Vegas, last week, King explained Winfrey doubted the interview would come to fruition as the Brooklyn rapper repeatedly postponed their meet-up.

“Even Oprah said, ‘You’re making a damn fool of yourself! Stop asking him. He doesn’t want to do it.’,” King recalled. “But I couldn’t let it go because he never said, ‘No, no, no.’ He just kept delaying, delaying, delaying. Oprah said, ‘He’s being polite because he doesn’t want to tell you, ‘No.’ I kept coming back. I don’t know why he said yes or why he changed his mind but I’m forever grateful.”

Gayle King Speaks With Oprah At Her “2020 Vision: Your Life In Focus Tour”

DENVER, COLORADO – MARCH 07: (EXCLUSIVE COVERAGE) Gayle King and Oprah Winfrey speak during Oprah’s 2020 Vision: Your Life in Focus Tour presented by WW (Weight Watchers Reimagined) at Pepsi Center on March 07, 2020 in Denver, Colorado. (Photo by Tom Cooper/Getty Images for Oprah)

“I’m still floating from that interview honestly. I was really buzzing after because you don’t know and you know he doesn’t like to do interviews,” she continued. “I had an older woman who was not the JAY-Z demographic and she came up to me saying, ‘You know, I never listened to that kind of music. But after listening to his interview, I’m going to go to the library and I want to listen to his music.’ And I said, ‘You should get ’99 Problems’ mam, you’d enjoy that!’” Check out her full comments on the interview below.

Gayle King Recalls Oprah’s Response To JAY-Z Interview

During King’s discussion with JAY-Z, the legendary rapper discussed his “most important” album, the origins of his “One-Take Hov” nickname, and much more while touring Brooklyn Public Library’s The Book of HOV exhibit. Be on the lookout for further updates on JAY-Z on HotNewHipHop.