I Need to Talk About Kathy Griffin
This is my Roman Empire
I have wanted to write about this forever. What better time than now, as we watch in horror as universities, law firms, and the media capitulate to Kirkland Signature Mussolini.
It reinforces a theory that’s been working in my mind for 8 frickin’ years.
The reaction to Kathy Griffin by the media, the public, and fellow artists after her photo controversy in 2017 was one of the first major capitulations to That Guy.
IN THIS ESSAY I WILL.
There are two kinds of people in this world: people who love Kathy Griffin and people who hate her.
As someone who has a personality that people seem to either love or loathe, I always found her relatable and hilarious. Her stand up specials are great. She is insanely quick witted, and most of the time she doesn’t write jokes, she just brings a list of bullet points on stage and riffs. She’s always been an LGBTQ+ ally, even though she hasn’t been perfect.
Her show My Life on the D-List remains one of my all time favorite reality shows, especially all the stuff with her mom, Maggie (RIP - I hope you are tippin’ it in heaven). The entire series is streaming on Peacock, and I watched a few episodes as research for this piece.1
Griffin has always been polarizing, and it is interesting to watch it play out in the series with 20 years of distance under my belt. Griffin was described by her now ex-husband as being deeply sensitive, and that even though she had a thick skin, found it hard sometimes not to take it personally. I’m the same way, and like Griffin, I pivoted to humor to cover up my pain and fear of rejection.
Her comedy was, at that point, always punching up. She made fun of people who were exponentially more famous than she was. She wasn’t saying anything worse than gossip sites were saying. Was it mean sometimes? Sure, though it seems tame now.
What’s also fascinating is that she was relentlessly honest, even when that wasn’t “nice” or “polite”. But for all the talk of how mean she was, she was met with misogyny and cruelty. Jay Leno basically called her ugly on live television. Fellow comedians at her level were dismissive and condescending. A male stylist made horrible comments about her body2 when all she asked for was a dress where she could wear a supportive bra.
We could argue the merits of her work all day. I am sure many of you reading this disagree with me. You may think her comedy is cruel and unfunny. You may find her repellant and obnoxious. You may think she took it too far.
Does that mean she “asked for it”?
In the spring of 2017, That Guy had just started his first term, and everyone was unsure how to behave. People were treating him like he was a Serious President, imploring us to give him a chance, etc. 3
Griffin and a photographer named Tyler Shields were doing a photoshoot. She had been upset by Trump’s misogynist comments about Megyn Kelly:
GRIFFIN: I did say, I want to do some kind of a picture to shame Trump.
SANDERS: Griffin said she was mad at Trump for what he said about Megyn Kelly, the former Fox News host, after she grilled him in a presidential debate in 2015.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: You know, you could see there was blood coming out of her eyes, blood coming out of her - wherever. But...
SANDERS: So Griffin wanted a photo of a bloody Trump.
GRIFFIN: No joke, like, I sent a friend of mine out to, like, a party store or, like, a Halloween store or something. And I said, just bring back anything, like, America/Trump-y.
They put fake blood (ketchup, actually) all over the mask. She held it up like she was holding a severed head, and Shields took the photo4. Obviously, there was no publicist present, or this would have never happened.
Shields posted the image online, and went on with their day. The leeches at TMZ picked it up, and mere hours later, it was the number one headline around the world. The Tang Crusted Terror took to his favorite form of communication - Twitter, natch - and excoriated her.
The backlash was swift and intense. Within days, Griffin had been fired from ALL of her jobs. CNN fired her from the New Year’s Eve gig she co-hosted with Anderson Cooper5. She was fired from TV shows. Her gigs were canceled. She had a hit show on Bravo for years, and Andy Cohen pulled an “I Don’t Know Her” (before he basically stole her gigs).
And it got worse. The Secret Service showed up at her house. As it turns out, they were considering charging her with “conspiracy to assassinate the president” because she held up a rubber mask with fake blood on it. She was placed on watch lists. She had trouble flying for years, because she was stopped and detained in multiple airports. She wasn’t on the no-fly list, but close.
She lost most of her friends. She lost millions of dollars in income. She lost the ability to leave her home undisturbed. She received countless death threats. She experienced harassment everywhere she went, and still does to this day. Did I mention her sister was dying of cancer while this was happening?6
What happened to Tyler Shields, who was half responsible for the photo?
Nothing much. He continued working and he was not the target of investigations.
Wonder why.
When I first read about the photo, and saw it, it made me laugh. I remember seeing it and chuckling, because I thought it was ridiculous, and knew that it certainly wasn’t serious.
My big criticism was that I wasn’t sure if she was doing a joke or doing agitprop (it doesn’t really work as either). I logged onto social media, expecting that some people would find it distasteful. What I found truly shocked me. Artists - including some of my peers - clutching their pearls. All saying she deserved to lose her job. All saying that it was violent and despicable. And, of course - “it wasn’t funny”.
Freedom of speech is fundamental to any artist. Freedom of speech is the right to express oneself without interference, censorship, or punishment by the government.
Freedom of speech of course does not mean freedom from consequences. The personal and professional consequences may have happened, even if I personally think they were unwarranted and disproportionate.
I wasn’t asking anyone to like Griffin’s photo. I wasn’t asking anyone to say it was a good decision. I wasn’t asking anyone to say it was well done. I wasn’t even asking anyone not to be frightened or offended by it.
My point was that it was unacceptable for a President to directly target and incite retaliation against a private citizen. It is not the place of the President to condemn artists, even when they disagree or are insulted by the art they make.
I got some responses that people were “triggered” because it reminded them of ISIS beheadings. While of course the murder of Daniel Pearl (and others) was horrific and disturbing, it was strange to me that suddenly everyone was so directly affected by it.7
Around that time, I had a conversation with a few folks (men, of course) who decided to come at me with, “Well, you didn’t like it when people were hanging effigies of Obama”.8
The fact that white people used to watch black men be executed for sport is one of the most shameful parts of American history. Invoking that - especially in the context of a Black president - is not the same thing. It isn’t even adjacent, in my opinion. It was a strawman argument, and pissed me off to no end. No one got in nearly as much trouble for doing that as Griffin did. And, as it turns out, defacing effigies of Presidents is a long American tradition.
My theory was this, and I stand by it even more now; because men9 thought Kathy Griffin was unfunny (a common critique of woman comedians in general), because she tried to express her fear and rage artistically, and because she generally wasn’t making comedy for them, they decided to side with a person who is a literal fascist.
I defended the photo at the time. Not the execution, but her right to make it.
I wish I’d defended it harder.
Griffin was one of the only people - including in the entire Me Too movement - to actually be cancelled. Others who faced “cancellation” for tiny little things like sexual assault - such as Louis CK - came out of their situations with brand new comedy specials.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch, the Republican Party - who were so outraged by Griffin’s photo just a few years earlier - embraced violence in their campaign ads and social media posts.
In 2021, Paul Gosar posted a video that depicted violence against then-President Joe Biden and Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Beyond a censure and a removal from a committee, it was not a cancellation nor was he formally investigated for a crime. It should be noted that this man is a sitting member of the House of Representatives, not a comedian.
In 2022, Eric Greitens (a candidate for the Senate) released a campaign video that depicted him hunting “RINOs” (Republicans in Name Only).
There are countless other examples.
I am certainly not going to spend time on how Republicans are hypocrites. Of course they’re hypocrites. But you’ll notice there was very little outcry from the media or from the people who were so “disturbed” by Griffin’s misguided attempt at political satire. We didn’t have Anderson Cooper talking about how “disgusting” these men were. Of course not.
It haunts me that Griffin was a test case. A test that we failed, and tragically. This wasn’t about “cancel culture”, this was about the First Amendment. The idea that the photo was regarded as a serious threat is 100% certified BULLSHIT.
If you’re reading this, and you still think the punishment fit the crime, I hope Space Nazi hasn’t downloaded your text messages or your Google search history. He can probably do that, just FYI.
“I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.” - Evelyn Beatrice Hall
Kathy Griffin showed bravery in the face of government oppression.
It takes a tremendous amount of courage to choose to be in the public eye after you are targeted directly by the President. She could have stayed quiet and waited for the drama to die down.
As is true to her character, for better or worse, she did not do that. She embarked on a multi-country international tour, and was detained at nearly every airport she traveled to, and in some cases had her electronics confiscated and inspected.10 She was harassed constantly. She remained defiant. And angry.
Her career was nearly destroyed. TV and film wouldn’t go near her. She had to fund her own projects. It took several years before any venue in the US would book her. For a long time, she was persona non grata in the entertainment industry.
But you can’t keep a woman like Griffin down. She booked her own comedy tour in the US in 2019, at great risk to her health and safety, and by all measures it was a success. She has been touring consistently ever since.
Griffin clearly understands the long-term implications of her experience. She said in an interview before the election that she was worried that if the Cheeto was re-elected, “He would pick us [comedians] off, one by one”. It’s not impossible that people like Jon Stewart and Jimmy Kimmel could soon find themselves in the President’s crosshairs. As could any public facing artist.
Our First Amendment Rights are under attack. Young people here on student visas are being disappeared off the street for attending protests. Green card holders are being unlawfully deported. The administration is threatening to withhold funding for any business, school or government agency that uses language they deem to be “DEI”. Historical facts are being deleted from websites. Books are being banned. Citizens are having their phones inspected in airports, to the point where articles are being written about what you should do to your phone before you travel.
Griffin spent nearly $1M on legal fees during her DOJ investigation, but the ongoing costs cannot be quantified.
Due to the stress of the ordeal, she developed a pill addiction, and that led to a suicide attempt. She was diagnosed with lung cancer, despite never having smoked, which led to permanent damage to her vocal cords. Her marriage of ten years ended in divorce. She was recently diagnosed with C-PTSD, in part because of the constant death threats and harassment she continues to experience. And yet, she continues working.
You can call that ego. You can call that delusion. I call it ballsy as hell.
I think that a part of why Griffin paid so dearly for her actions was because she was mocking the rich and powerful in Hollywood, long before it was “cool”. Griffin, in her way, de-mystified celebrity. She didn’t uphold them as Golden Geese. She - sometimes inelegantly - reminded us all that they are just people. While it’s true that Griffin became a celebrity and amassed millions of dollars, she doesn’t have the clout or the power that her more famous colleagues do.
It was this unwillingness to play the Hollywood game - to adhere to the rules they set - that made it easy for the industry to shun her. After all, this is the industry that legitimized the current President. The Apprentice made a huge chunk of America believe he was actually a gifted businessman when he is really a two-bit conman, rapist, and now a convicted felon. He would not be where he is had Hollywood not crafted him the perfect narrative.
Despite her ordeal, Griffin claims she does not regret the photo.
"I've learned so much. I think a lot of people would love it if I said, 'Oh, I wish I had never taken that picture. I wish I had never cursed. I wish I had never made this comment or that comment,' " she said. "But the most important thing that I hope people see is that, long after I kick the bucket, they see the crazy red-haired lady didn't go down."
While I won’t be staging any controversial photos any time soon, I know what I am risking by expressing my rage at this administration. And like my fellow crazy redhead - you may love me or hate me, but as long as it is my constitutional right, you cannot make me shut up.
I forgot about how BAD the fat shaming was in the early aughts. LORD.
I CRINGED watching this, because I remember the misogynist comments made by gay men about my body. For example, I lost a lot of weight before I got married in 2005, and a gay man at a party told me he thought I was anorexic (and I took that as a compliment??? UGH). I suppose it paled in comparison to the outright disgusting comments from straight men, like the asshole who moo’ed like a cow at me when I wore a short dress to a party. It’s only with age and wisdom I realize they are cut from the same entitled cloth.
I did not, as I refused to give that much credence to NYC’s very own carnival barker. He was just part of the scenery here, like ads for Dr. Zizmore and Guitar Lessons with Dan Smith.
I’m not putting the image in the text, since this isn’t really about the image itself, so I will link to it here. The image in that link is blurred, btw, because we can look at footage of children being blown up all day but god forbid someone see a completely fake decapitation.
I looked forward to this every year. I LIVED for Anderson’s high pitched giggles when you get some tequila in him. Anderson’s about-face on Kathy is something I will never forgive him for. That’s not a way to have your girl’s back. You could have just said “I don’t agree with what she did but we have free speech in America” and gone back to your Vanderbilt life, sir.
Her mother and her sister both received death threats. Her sister was getting them up until the day she died, and Griffin’s mother, Maggie, was diagnosed with dementia not long after.
This is like when people in middle state suburbs were saying 9/11 made them terrified that someone was going to crash a plane into their Applebees or some shit.
To my knowledge, Obama never publicly mentioned it. Certainly not on social media. And, it isn’t about what I do or do not find distasteful.
Women find her unfunny too, but when you think about who is in charge of who gets a job and doesn’t, its mostly men.
Her documentary, A Hell of a Story, shows this in detail.
I didn't think it was funny at the time either...I thought it was a statement, and I found it typical to annihilate a woman for having an opinion, but I agreed with her. I thought her brave to have done it, and I thought it was fucked up that she lost her...well, everything. I didn't even know the extent of the backlash until this article because I don't follow celebrities much, but I'm all for you bringing it up again! She was horribly wronged, in my opinion.
Have always been a fan. The treatment she received over that picture was beyond extreme, we all know if it had been a male comedian he would have walked away with a swat on the hand. And Anderson Cooper was instantly dead to me for being such a coward. Saw her on the 2019 tour, she was funny at times but she was so traumatized. She talked for almost two hours, much of it seemed like therapy. The house was packed, it was good to see so many supporters. She's a legend.