Kathy Griffin Reflects on Her Journey and Feeling “Uncanceled” After Trump Head Photo Controversy
Nearly nine years after a controversial photo sparked significant backlash, Kathy Griffin is charting a new course in her career. The comedian gained notoriety for an anti-Trump protest image that many deemed too extreme.
The two-time Emmy winner expressed that while “people still define me by” the infamous image of her holding a fake severed head resembling the former president, she has found strength in confronting the criticism. “Oh, I think I’m uncanceled, which is a miracle to me because I didn’t think I would ever be uncanceled,” she stated in an interview with WUSF. “I didn’t work for seven years, and then when I went back on tour last time, which I made a special [Kathy Griffin My Life on the PTSD List] out of.”
Griffin added, “Now, I really own it, and I absolutely lean into it, because I was right, and I was ahead of my time.”
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Reflecting on the image, she said, “When I look at that picture now, I’m very proud of it, because I know Donald. I’ve known him since the ’90s. I’ve worked with him, and the fact that he came for me specifically was so bizarre. Whenever I would see him in person, he would act like he was scared of me, and he would put four fingers up like a cross, and go, ‘Oh, here she comes. She’s gonna be tough on me. Don’t make fun of the hair.’”
In May 2017, four months after Trump’s inauguration, Griffin posed for the now-infamous photo, which depicted her holding a fake bloody decapitated head in a style reminiscent of ISIS.
At the time, Griffin issued an apology in a video, stating, “I sincerely apologize. I am just now seeing the reaction of these images. I crossed the line…. I went way too far. The image is too disturbing. I understand how it offends people…I get it.”
As the backlash mounted, CNN terminated Griffin’s role as co-host for its New Year’s Eve coverage with Anderson Cooper. Subsequently, she was cleared in a federal investigation regarding the controversial image.
