Oprah Told Gayle King to Stop Begging Jay-Z for An Interview: ‘He Doesn’t Want to Do It’

“You know he doesn’t like to do interviews and I was shameless,” King told Evans at the 2-minute mark of the video abiove.

“I just groveled [so much] that it became embarrassing,” King added. “Even Oprah said, ‘You are making a damn fool of yourself. Stop asking him. He doesn’t want to do it.’ But I couldn’t let it go, because he never said no, no, no – he just kept delaying, delaying, delaying.”

Maybe the delays were because of the 4:44 artist attending stops throughout Beyoncé‘s Renaissance World Tour through the summer, or his Book of Hov grand opening in June. But eventually, King got the 24-time Grammy winner to agree to a career-spanning interview.

“I don’t know why he said yes or why he changed his mind… I’m just grateful that he did,” King said.

One topic that King and Jay-Z covered was the now-viral “$500,000 or a dinner with Jay-Z’ debate,” which the rapper and business mogul put to rest. “You’ve gotta take the money. You’ve got all that in the music for $10.99,” he said. “I wouldn’t tell you to cut a bad deal. Like, take the $500,000, go buy some albums, and listen to the albums.”