© Getty/TMZ
Comedian Kathy Griffin claims the infamous bloody shock photograph of herself clutching the fake, decapitated head of President Donald Trump would have blown over within days had Trump himself not responded to the photo on social media.
In an
interview with Politico this week, the 57-year-old
My Life on the D-List star said she still cannot book stand-up concerts anywhere in the United States, seven months after the photo was first published by TMZ.
"I think it would have been gone in a week without his tweet," Griffin told Politico. "Trump knows what would be perceived as something hysterical and he loves hysteria. There are millions of people who think I'm a member of ISIS to this day."
The photograph - taken by photographer Tyler Shields -
first hit the Internet on May 30. Griffin
issued an apology the same day, saying the image had gone "too far," but
months later apparently retracted her apology, explaining she didn't believe she had done
anything wrong.
Trump responded to the photo in a tweet the following day, explaining that his children, including his young son Barron, were having a "hard time" with the image. One report
claimed Barron had seen the photograph on television and had "panicked," not knowing who Griffin is or whether the photograph was fake.
© Tyler Shields/TMZThe image, from photographer Tyler Shields, ignited a firestorm of controversy when it was first published online by TMZ in May.
Griffin added that she thinks Trump seized upon the photograph to "distract" from his then-recent firing of FBI director James Comey.The photograph was met with widespread condemnation as Griffin was almost immediately fired from CNN, where she had hosted the network's New Year's Eve coverage for a decade, saw numerous stops on her cross-country tour canceled, and was questioned by the U.S. Secret Service.
In June, Griffin held a press conference with attorney Lisa Bloom in which
she also blamed Trump for the reaction to the photograph and said she believed the backlash was sexist."It's a bunch of white guys trying to silence me," she said. "
This wouldn't be happening to a guy. This is a woman thing."
Griffin told Politico she can no longer perform in the U.S. as a result of the backlash, but has found keen audiences overseas.
"They were thrilled to have someone come over and make fun of Trump," she said. "I wish I could tour in the U.S. without getting shot - I know I can't. I was in the middle of a 50-city tour when the tweet happened. It was canceled in 24 hours."
Comment: Griffin is delusional and an example of the
Dunning-Kruger Effect in action. She thinks she's funny but she's not (and never was). Annoying might describe her better. But her claim to fame is that it's all Trump's fault because he called her out on her tasteless stunt. She just can't seem to realize that everything else after that was
her own doing. Nice one Griffin, just keep on digging your hole deeper.
More from her remarks to Politico, courtesy of
The Daily Wire:
She went on to claim that the photo really wasn't that bad, but that Donald Trump had escalated matters by using her stunt as a "tool" to distract from "his bad news of the day."
"After that, I had to go offline because of the death threats," she said. "He didn't use my handle in his tweet, so he didn't have my followers coming after him."
Of course, it's not as though Donald Trump doesn't have his own detractors. Or that anyone watching the drama play out was somehow unaware of whom Trump was referencing.
Given that Griffin has often translated her own misfortune into success in stand-up, it's hard to believe that she's not wanted anywhere in the United States simply because of Donald Trump, but for now she's keeping to YouTube and other self-publishing platforms (except Twitter) where she can exert some measure of control over feedback.
"My YouTube is lit. I really do have a real story to tell. In my live act, I talk about the interrogation with the feds and how everybody turned on me on every platform," she said. "I still can't tweet a picture of my new puppies without getting all hateful responses in broken English."
And, in case you missed it:
Freak-show: Anti-Trump American celebrity Kathy Griffin sez she's on Interpol watch-list
Comment: Griffin is delusional and an example of the Dunning-Kruger Effect in action. She thinks she's funny but she's not (and never was). Annoying might describe her better. But her claim to fame is that it's all Trump's fault because he called her out on her tasteless stunt. She just can't seem to realize that everything else after that was her own doing. Nice one Griffin, just keep on digging your hole deeper.
More from her remarks to Politico, courtesy of The Daily Wire: And, in case you missed it: Freak-show: Anti-Trump American celebrity Kathy Griffin sez she's on Interpol watch-list