It was the quoted joke that had folks clutching their pearls all the way into the stratosphere. And Matteo Lane is not having it, ya’ll.

As you may know, Gayle King landed herself in some hot water last month during a CBS Mornings interview with the comedian about his cookbook, Your Pasta Sucks. The convo turned to his standup routine, with King repeating a line, with the caveat that “I hope I don’t get in trouble,”  which Lane uses in a bit about white women who approach him about cooking that included a term many found derogatory.

From TikTok to TMZ, the online uproar was immediate. But Lane is not one of her haters. In the now-viral clip, he erupts into laughter at her usage of his joke and still stands by it.

Talking with TV Insider ahead of the May 16 premiere of his Hulu stand-up hour, Matteo Lane: The Al Dente Special, Lane addressed the King controversy…and revealed that CBS Mornings wasn’t their first meeting.

The subject came up while recounting his run-in with Oprah Winfrey in Italy, during which he told her “she better work” — more on that in our full interview with Lane over here.

“Not only did I run into Oprah [in Italy], but when I did CBS Mornings with Gayle King a couple of weeks ago — which I don’t know if you heard, she said ‘f*****ry’ and let me just say this right here, hysterical! I love Gayle, I’m saying that right now,” he laughs.

“She came back before the interview — before she said what she said, and they had to rocket her off — she came in and was like, ‘I remember you in Rome.’ She goes, ‘I was with Oprah, we were going to Da Francesco,’ which is [a restaurant] that I go to all the time. She goes, ‘And I remember you because here we are walking and we see this American turning to Oprah and saying, ‘You better work, Oprah!’”

Matteo Lane: The Al Dente Special, Streaming, May 16, Hulu