Kathy Griffin is on the cover of The Hollywood Reporter this week. The interview focuses on how she is still being persecuted for the controversial photo of her holding Donald Trump’s bloody, prosthetic head. Although Kathy is working again after losing a spokesperson gig and having several venues cancel her comedy shows, she said she is practically a prisoner in her $10.5 million-dollar compound in Bel Air. I know it’s a $10.5M mansion because Kathy pointedly tells the reporter how much it cost and that she paid for it in cash. She calls it her “F-K-You House.” The main point Kathy wanted to make in her interview is that not only is she not a criminal but that it’s everyone else’s fault she’s being treated like one.
On the seriousness of her “crime”: “I didn’t commit a crime. I didn’t rape anybody. I didn’t assault anybody. I didn’t get a DUI. I mean, my God, there are celebrities that fucking kill people.”
On the night the image was released: Griffin was set to host a dinner party for Melanie Griffith, Rita Wilson and Kris Jenner … “I wondered, ‘Should I cancel the dinner?’ And then I thought, ‘No, these are three women who could probably give me good advice.’ ” The dinner party proceeded as planned. “We sat at the table and talked about it,” recalls Griffin. “We hashed out options, and they were trying to make me feel good – getting the laughs going because I was so freaked out.”
On the Lisa Bloom press conference gone wrong: “It turned out she wanted me to do an infomercial for her. When I walked into that room, I had no idea there was going to be a banner above my head that said LisaBloom .com. I didn’t know she was going to Velcro herself to my shoulder so she couldn’t be cut out of any shot. I didn’t know she was going to hand me a mug that said LisaBloom.com. I got all of that in under three seconds.”
On the advice she received from crisis experts: “I was hearing, ‘Go away for five years. I was like, ‘I’ll tell you what: You go away for five years.’ “
Just to restate, I don’t think Kathy did anything wrong. I do think it was an ill-conceived idea but that is about as much energy as I invest in it. Honestly, I haven’t thought about it since the last time she brought it up, which was when she announced her Laugh Your Head Off Tour. I’m sorry she lost so much revenue but that was always a part of the risk she took when she told photographer Tyler Shields to, “get it out there in whatever way the kids are getting things these days.” If you read the whole article, it really sounds like Kathy is the only one carrying out any kind of sentence. I think she exiled herself, so she can stage a big comeback. The problem is, the comeback only works if people care about the controversy and I think most have moved past this one. The interviewer described their second meeting, which took place at Ivy on the Shore in Santa Monica, a restaurant that celebrities go to when they want to be seen. Kathy, who said she doesn’t go out much since ‘the photo’, arrived in a black Maserati, dressed to be noticed and yet, “despite the theatrical entrance, no one in the packed room seems to notice her; if they do, they don’t seem to care.” Then he noted that Kathy, “seems a little surprised.”
Kathy’s discussed the FBI investigating her after the photo was released. I don’t think anyone actually thought she was a threat but I assume that’s standard procedure for this type of thing. But at the same time the FBI was investigating her, they were also protecting her, including showing her how to sort her mail and which items should be bagged and sent to them for investigation. Obviously, Kathy was getting terrible threats and I’m glad she took precautions. But it also detracts from her narrative that she’s under attack from everyone. She was only investigated for two months but the FBI is still looking after her safety today. I really think she keeps dragging this out along with her feuds with Anderson Cooper, Andy Cohen and now Lisa Bloom so she can “return from scandal.” It’s a smart move, actually. It’s just not being handled well.
Kathy said she keeping her short hair after shaving it off in solidarity for her sister, Joyce, whom she lost to cancer in September. I thought it was a lovely gesture and I’m sorry that Joyce ultimately succumbs to the disease.
Photo credit: Adam Amengual/The Hollywood Reporter
I still love her.
Same. She gives zero effs.
#TeamKathy on this one.
But she does care or she would shrug off the controversy and roll on instead of trying to be the victim of the week. She cares quite a lot.
Actually I think she gives 100 percent fukks and that is her downfall. She cares to a scary victimized neurotic degree what people think and knows her audience will have her back when she does a booboo.
She would be so much funnier and happier if she just moved on and was badass about it. No apology tour, no whining, just owned it and said; yeah, I did it, I stand by it, so what…and meant it.
She seems cowardly to me. That is a pet peeve of mine.
I just didn’t think the Trump head was funny but nothing short of the Orange loser being someone’s bitch in jail would make me laugh where he is concerned anyway.
I think she looks great with short hair. I hope she keeps ot.
@ Missmarirose : So right. I looked at the picture and thought “I love that haircut”. I took a picture of it with my phone to show next time I get a haircut.
She didn’t do anything wrong, it was just women’s “locker room talk”. 😉
10.5mil house needs a lot of $$$ for taxes, bills and upkeep. I can see why she’s desperate.
I have never thought she was funny. And on top of that, she’s not very smart either.
Of course an image like that is going to piss a lot of people off, possibly open a benign standard investigation. But now in the middle of #metoo, her offense seems so arbitrary, and the response kind of overdone.
I don’t like what’s kathy griffin did at all. That being said, we can’t throw out all of the standards of how a president should speak, behave, and treat people. But then turn around and expect people to treat the president with respect.
“…we can’t throw out all of the standards of how a president should speak, behave, and treat people. But then turn around and expect people to treat the president with respect.” +1000. That also applies to his supporters, who knowingly voted for disrespect, still don’t have the decency to be sorry about it, but then want to whine about ‘divisiveness’ ‘intolerance’, and a lack of civility.
Yes Yes and Yes!!
I do like Kathy. I hate Trump. For me her stunt was horrible, not because of whose head it was but because it was a beheading. That abomination actually happens and it’s enough to make me vomit. Didn’t need to see it, don’t want to talk about it any more. Go back to actual humor Kathy.
This was in th early days of this “presidency” and we had “standards” from days of yore. If she did this today no one would notice. Rightfully so, no one expects decency towards this admin.
She isn’t funny anymore. If she had a massive fan base, they would have fought to bring her back. They stayed away in droves. If you shave your head (albeit for her sister) and you don’t get the pity vote, I’d say your time’s pretty much up. Come on, Anderson Cooper doesn’t even like her!
“On the advice she received from crisis experts: “I was hearing, ‘Go away for five years. ” LOL those are some crappy “experts”. Also one year in show buiness is an eternity, five years is basically forever. Only national treasures can afford that.
Kathy was always pretty dramatic and she certainly pissed off a lot of celebs. So Im sure lots of people used the Trump thing as an excuse to get rid of her or at least punish her.
I have never been a fan of her humor or personality… just not my thing. But, I don’t think she really did anything wrong. I think she has always been polarizing… people seem to love or hate her. I can understand why people would want to distance themselves from her as the situation turned toxic fast. Do people really care about this anymore? I don’t know know anyone still talking about this.
It seems like she thrives in playing the victim role.
If a comedian is receiving verbal abuse, hate speech, and threats from the unhinged supporters of a powerful, unbalanced, racist sexual predator, and the FBI is having to protect her, it’s pretty safe to say that she’s a victim. Even though she’s obviously not one of the biggest victims in the world.
I watched her SVU episode the other day and it was so… off. She was playing a lesbian and hitting on Olivia and Alex shamelessly, even kissing Olivia while they were investigating a crime scene, because gay people just can’t control themselves??? Super weird.
You do understand that she had nothing to do with the writing of the episode, she only acted the material and direction she was given, right? If she rubs you wrong because of her comedy or her stunt last year, that’s one thing, but thinking she’s “weird” for a television show character portrayal is like blaming the waiter when the chef cooks your steak incorrectly. She only delivered the material, not created it.
First of all Nikita, I didn’t say she was weird, I said the episode was weird. And second, when you participate in something, and you put your stamp on it (which if you’d seen the episode, and are familiar with her comedy, you’d see she clearly did) maybe make sure it’s not complete dreck drowning in stereotype and tacky innuendo. If we’re asking actors to be accountable for who they work with and what they’re putting out, why give anyone a pass?
I love her and follow her on IG. She was absolutely blacklisted after that MINOR mistake. The backlash was so intense and so ridiculous, people got on reallly high horses about this. I’m still miffed at Anderson Cooper for being a sh*t friend. And yeah, she lost money. She’s always had to fight for her spot in the comedy world and don’t think for a second it had nothing to do with her being a woman.
You’ve forgotten about it because nobody cared that she couldn’t get work and we all moved on to the horrid treatment of women in the entertainment industry behind the scenes … oh wait.
Minor?!
Yes. I know people were pearl-clutching like crazy at the time but the things all of us here have called Trump since … come on. It’s hypocritical at best. It was bad taste and an error in judgment. She’d been an activist for decades but people conveniently forgot and chose to cancel her based on that one photo. What did that photo actually do? Did it have any consequences? As if she and that photo were the reason the US is going down the drain. I almost choked on the hypocrisy of it all.
Yep. Pretty minor.
(I follow her IG too, and it just makes me appreciate her more!)
(I can understand her sharp wit & sassy humor isn’t for everyone, but its just right for ME)
(btw, I’ve heard shes not nice… my former spouse was a production manager and I heard the stories 🙁 … oh well)
Yeah, I mean, it was in some level of poor taste, but come the hell on. We have a president blatantly trying to obstruct justice and undermine American institutions that provide checks and balances to executive power, all because he, or somebody in his circle, very likely committed treason to get the presidency. Priorities here.
I am not the biggest Kathy Griffin fan but I think the backslash she got was WAY too much for what she did. I don’t like Anderson Cooper anymore. I think he should have supported her even if he thought what she did was a stupid idea, I detest Andy Cohen: I find him conceited, insufferable and arrogant. The fact that Cooper and Cohen are best buddies says a lot about who Anderson really is.
Andy Cohen is perhaps the most disgusting person in show business. He’s a glorified carny. The Real Housewives franchise manages to both mock these mentally ill narcissists and simultaneously glorify their screwed-up values and tacky wealth. And all of the Bravo shows do that. The look of unadulterated glee on his face when these half-wits start fight on those reunion shows is sociopathic. I wonder if there is a deep hatred of women buried there.
I used to like Anderson Cooper but yeah, his friendship with this vile bottom-feeder really is a black mark against him.
Mumbles: AGWEE!
Yes, Cohen hates women. It took me a long time to realize that and it’s disgusting. I can’t stand his feigned innocence and childish pot stirring. Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban handled him well on NYE.
Anderson Cooper floored me with how he handled this, but after Kathy said he was a spineless heiress, I thought about it and agree. He’s a coward. He uses his Mom as a credibility shield to this day.
All this said, I think Kathy is doing fine. Her friends are still with her, her house is massive and ultra secure, she’s rich, yeah I’m not wasting sympathy on her. She’s fine. It did surprise me that she said nothing about her sister. I mean…. that’s some coldness there. She and Anderson are not that different probably.
Dorotea – AGWEE!
I like her. I missed her and her making Anderson cooper uncomfortable on New Years….uncomfortable in a funny way. Not the kind of uncomfortable that I saw between him and Andy this year…
There are no paparazzi at the Ivy at the Shore; they’re confusing it with the location on Robertson. No one goes to the location in Santa Monica to be seen–quite the opposite.
I used to be a fan — I loved her D-List series. I was a fan until I attended one of her shows. She was clueless and unprepared for her audience — she tried some jokes about the local area that were so ignorant, insulting and off-the-mark, the audience groaned in disgust.
After that, she tossed her notebook of material aside, commenting “this isn’t going to work tonight”, and spent the rest of her show doing tasteless jokes about how much she missed Whitney Houston, and preceded to impersonate Whitney calling “Bobby”. When that didn’t get her the level of laughs she expected, she reverted to her stand-by Cher and Celine Dionne shtick. The remaining portion of her show was just nasty criticisms — no humor.
I’m playing my little violin for her in her mansion.
Agreed, my husband took me to one of her shows, and I fell asleep!
I don’t enjoy her sort of comedy *at all*, but I do feel for her. She is edgy and outrageous and has been professionally successful because of it. Although the Trump thing seemed more extreme than her usual, it wasn’t that far afield, especially given the national/global outrage about the man. It seems there is an invisible, moving line where outrageous is deemed unacceptable, and it’s impossible to see until you’ve crossed it.
It will not be an obstacle if people in her industry don’t want it to be…and if she will proceed without mentioning it ever again. Yet, I’m not sure that she wants to let it go—attention for outrageous things is a benchmark for success in her business.
i still have no idea what was wrong with the image. i understand some people dont like it but i dont understand the ramifications.
Don’t care for her at all. Sad about her sister though.
Honestly, did anyone other than the Faux News types even care about this event one way or the other? I think she thought it would get her a lot more attention than it actually did.
The backlash against her was uncalled for. She really didn’t deserve it and what she did (make a very bad, not funny joke using a stupid prop) didn’t warrant the response she got.
Having said that, she is brutally, painfully unfunny and has been for decades.
I only wish the photo had been real. But seriously, what ever happened to having a sense of humor. FFS people, lighten up. Go Kathy.
I think she’s become a little unhinged in the last year and should go away for awhile.