Gayle King Says It Feels Like 'Open Season' on Black Men After Central Park and Minneapolis Cop Incidents

Tuesday morning's news was "too much" for Gayle King on "CBS This Morning," as the anchor addressed two viral videos from the weekend.

In one, a white woman by the name of Amy Cooper is seen calling police and telling them "there's an African American man threatening my life," after a black man, Christian Cooper, asked her to leash her dog in a popular bird watching area of Central Park where dogs must be leashed.

In the other, a cop in Minneapolis is seen kneeling on a handcuffed black man's neck during an arrest. The man, who said he couldn't breathe, then lost consciousness and later died.

CBS' Vladimir Duthiers showed the Central Park video, pointing out how "throughout American history there have been innumerable examples of African Americans falsely accused who have been imprisoned, shot, lynched." He added that he "[shuddered] to think what would have happened had Mr. Cooper not been filming."

"Once again I say thank goodness that there's videotape," said King after viewing the footage. "As the daughter of a black man and the mother of a black man, this is really too much for me today."

"I'm still rattled by this last story and she's practically strangling her dog to make these false accusations against another black man," she continued, referencing the Minneapolis incident as well. "I'm still so upset by that last story where the man is handcuffed underneath a car where people are pleading he can't breathe and we're watching a man die."

"So we go from that story to this story, where she falsely accuses a black man on television," continued King. "I don't even know what to do or how to handle this at this particular time. I know that this is ... I am speechless. I am really, really speechless about what we're seeing in television this morning. It feels to me like an open season and it's not sometimes a safe place to be in this country for black men and today it's too much for me."

After her cohosts reiterated how disturbing Amy Cooper's behavior was, King doubled down on the importance of video in these situations -- saying it's necessary "so you can see what it happening here."

"I'm not a racist. I did not mean to harm that man in any way," Amy Cooper told CNN after the incident went viral. "I think I was just scared. When you're alone in the Ramble, you don't know what's happening. It's not excusable, it's not defensible."

She has been placed on administrative leave by her employer, Franklin Templeton, and her dog has been surrendered back to the shelter she adopted it from for the time being. Christian Cooper said he'd accept her apology "if it's genuine and if she plans on keeping her dog on a leash in the Ramble going forward, then we have no issues with each other."