Snoop Dogg insists he's 'non-violent' after calling broadcaster Gayle King 'dog-face b*tch' for asking Kobe Bryant rape question

Popular US rapper Snoop Dogg has attempted to clarify a statement in which he said Gayle King should "back off b*tch, before we come get you," after the TV host commented on NBA icon Kobe Bryant's past sexual assault allegation.

Snoop Dogg said that he is a "non-violent person" in an Instagram video accompanied by the caption "P. S. A. From the peoples champ now carry on and be nice to others," amid a developing furore about statements that he made about 65-year-old CBS host Gayle after she asked retired WNBA star Lisa Leslie if the 2003 allegation against the recently-deceased Bryant "complicated" how his legacy is viewed.

"What do you gain from that?" Snoop Dogg said in a video posted last Wednesday. "I swear to god, we the worst. We the f*cking worst,. We expect more from you, Gayle. Why y’all attacking us? We your people! You ain’t come after f*cking Harvey Weinstein, asking them dumb-ass questions. I get sick of y'all."

However, the most controversy came from Snoop's "back off b*tch" line, which prompted an about-face on Sunday.

"When I said what I said, I spoke for the people who felt like Gayle was very disrespectful towards Kobe Bryant and his family," Snopp said.

"Now with that being said, what do I look like, wanting some harm to come to a 70-year-old woman? I was raised way better than that. I don’t want no harm to come to her and I didn’t threaten her. All I did was say, ‘Check it out, you outta pocket for what you doing and we watching you. Have a little bit more respect for Vanessa, her babies and Kobe Bryant’s legacy.'"

In 2003, Bryant was accused of sexual assault against a 19-year-old hotel worker in Colarado, but the charges were subsequently dropped when his accuser opted to not testify against him. A subsequent civil suit was settled out of court. Bryant had claimed that the encounter was a consensual one, but admitted that the alleged victim “did not and does not view this incident the same way I did.”

Oprah Winrey, a close friend of King's, said recently that King had received several death threats in the wake of both her and Snopp Dogg's statements on the matter.

Former LA Lakers star Bryant tragically died at the age of 41 along with his 13-year-old daughter Gianna and seven others in a helicopter crash in California last month.

As one of basketball’s biggest ever icons, and as an athlete whose name transcended his sport, Bryant’s death caused a wave of grief and mourning around the world.