Gayle King is defending her spot on that all-female Blue Origin space mission, and she’s not taking the online shade lightly! The 70-year-old news anchor linked up with Katy Perry, Lauren Sanchez, activist Amanda Nguyen, rocket scientist Aisha Bowe, and Kerianne Flynn for a minutes-long trip to the stars. But instead of applause by all, the crew got DRAGGED by some for allegedly being out of touch. Some folks went as far as to call it a complete waste of resources, prompting Gayle to clap back!
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Gayle Addresses The Backlash
Despite the criticism, Gayle is standing 10 toes down on her decision to fly to space on Monday (April 14). While talking to Entertainment Tonight, she shut down the “frivolous” talk. She made it clear that this mission was bigger than just a flex for the internet.
“Space isn’t taking away from Earth, it’s about making things better down here,” she said. “I’m disappointed and saddened by the criticism, but don’t sleep on what this means for the culture.”
Additionally, Oprah’s BFF also appeared to have taken issue with some of the sexist comments from those who’ve been referring to her trip to space as a “ride.” She said that if it had been a bunch of men in their position, people would’ve called it a “journey” or “flight.”
“You never see a man, a male astronaut, who’s going up in space and they say, ‘Oh, he took a ride.’ … It’s always referred to as a flight or a journey, so I feel that’s a little disrespectful to what the mission was and the work that Blue Origin does.”
Gayle continued to shut down the haters. She said women, young girls, and men have reached out to her, feeling inspired to follow their dreams after seeing her blast into space. “I’ve had folks hit me up saying, ‘Wow, I never thought I could do that, but you’re out here showing us how!’” she added.
The Maryland native acknowledged that some of the negative comments she’d seen had come from her industry friends, which took her by surprise. While she didn’t call anybody out in particular, she makes it clear that she has no regrets knowing that her trip was all about “making things better” on Earth.
Some Celebs Were Not Pleased
Actress and model Emily Ratajkowski went viral when she sounded off on her thoughts on the space mission. Spoiler alert: she did NOT hold back either. She took to TikTok to air out her disgust with the all-female crew, questioning the whole purpose behind it. “That space mission this morning? That’s end times s***. Like, this is beyond parody,” she ranted. Emily blasted the massive resources poured into the space trip, slamming it as a waste when the world is facing bigger issues.
“You say that you care about Mother Earth, and it’s about Mother Earth, and you’re going up in a spaceship that is built and paid for by a company that’s single-handedly destroying the planet? Look at the state of the world and think about how many resources went into putting these women into space.”
Emily Ratajkowski says she’s ‘disgusted’ by the Blue Origin space trip:
“Look at the state of the world and think about how many resources went into putting these women in space… for what?” pic.twitter.com/i9rRrWvSei
— Pop Base (@PopBase) April 14, 2025
Even Wendy’s Restaurant Had Something To Say!
Following their trip to space, Wendy’s, the fast-food joint, decided to chime in on the debate on social media. The restaurant specifically shaded another crew member on the flight, Katy Perry. Quote-tweeting a post about the singer’s successful return to Earth, the company joked on X. It wrote, “Can we send her back?”
And if that wasn’t enough, the restaurant’s account also mocked her for kissing the ground with a twist on her song ‘I Kissed a Girl.’ When fans noted the mission only lasting 10 minutes, Wendy’s made sure to correct the tweet, writing, “It was 11 minutes.” The sass continued when it then tweeted, “When we said women in STEM, this isn’t what we meant.”
