A
defiant, tearful Kathy Griffin said Friday that she regretted making a photo of herself holding a mask that looked like President Trump’s bloody severed head, but she wasn’t going to stop criticizing the president or fighting for others to do so.
The comments were the fast-talking comedian’s first beyond a video-recorded apology on social media.
The image outraged Trump, his family and many, many others earlier this week. She said five employers had canceled scheduled shows since then, and she’d been fired by CNN.
. “You guys know him, he’s not going to stop.
She said the online attacks on her in the last few days — including death threats — were a distraction mobilized by a president embattled by scandal. And
she sought to frame it as the kind of “bullying” she’d received from older white men her entire career.
“I’m not good at being appropriate,” she said. “I’m only good at doing comedy one way. It’s in your face. I’m going to make fun of the president. And I’m going to do it more now.”
Although she reiterated her apology, she told reporters a person shouldn’t have to die for a joke in the United States.
Still, she cried as she told the gathered reporters:
“I don’t think I’ll have a career after this. I’m going to be honest, he broke me.”
Chelsea Clinton and Griffin’s friend, CNN host Anderson Cooper, were among those with sharp criticisms of the gruesome photo, but reactions from President Trump, first lady Melania Trump and Donald Trump Jr. were especially incensed.
President Trump tweeted that Griffin should be “ashamed of herself,” and that his 11-year-old son Barron was “having a hard time with this.”
“Sick!” he added.
Trump’s eldest son, Donald Jr., wrote
He also called out CNN in subsequent tweets, urging the network to sever ties with the veteran comedian and decade-long co-host of a New Year’s Eve program with Anderson Cooper.
CNN later announced its decision to part ways with Griffin.
Outside the first family, Griffin’s stunt garnered near universal condemnation from the right and left, spurring the company Squatty Potty to pull its advertising and leading Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) to cancel an event with the comic promoting his latest book.
Across the country, venues pulled Griffin from their lineups.
After such widespread backlash, it may seem odd Griffin would position herself as the victim of bullying, rather than the bully.
It’s a word that has been associated with her brand of comedy before, and something she has talked about experiencing both as a young girl and as an adult.
Most notably, Griffin’s ongoing feud with former Alaska governor Sarah Palin came to a head during a Fox News interview, when Palin called the comic a “bully.”
“She’s a 50-year-old adult bully, really is what she is, kind of a has-been comedian,” Palin said in 2011.
The Fox News host had asked Palin about rumors that Griffin would be playing a tea party mom, modeled after Palin, on the sitcom “Glee.” But by that point, the tiff between the two women had been brewing for some time.
As host of the VH1 Divas salute to the troops in December
2010, Griffin made fat-shaming jokes about Palin’s oldest daughter, Bristol, that drew loud boos from the crowd. Bristol Palin had competed on the reality TV show “Dancing With the Stars.”
Her r
eaction could be called hypocritical given her history of mocking other people’s appearances. And after the Trump stunt this week and her news conference announcement about being bullied by the Trumps, the comparisons have continued.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...ily-at-presser-friday/?utm_term=.4ba4bd66a788
Like assassination comments weren't made about Obama. What planet are you living on?