Griffin plans shows after photo backlash
It looks like Kathy Griffin is trying to make a bit of a comeback, nine months after her controversial photo shoot using a Trump prop.
Griffin announced her first U.S. shows since the gruesome photo, which showed her holding a bloody mask of President Donald Trump’s head, was released in May 2017. The image outraged Trump and his family, prompted widespread condemnation, led to show cancellations and cost her a CNN gig.
“I’m dipping my toes into touring again, even though the Trumps and nobody wants me to work again,” Griffin said Friday on HBO’s “Real Time with Bill Maher,” her first major TV appearance since the photo. “I just booked today, I’m going to do a show at Carnegie Hall in New York, and I’m also going to go right to Trump’s backyard and do a show at the Kennedy Center.”
Griffin, who said it was “a small, victorious announcement,” didn’t divulge the dates for her upcoming shows. She later tweeted that Carnegie Hall show tickets will be available this coming week.
The comic also was scheduled last Thursday for a “Jimmy Kimmel Live” appearance but canceled due to what her rep described as “a scheduling conflict.”
As the backlash to the photo taken by Tyler Shields grew in spring of last year, Griffin apologized and then tearfully addressed what she said were detailed death threats she had been receiving online. Months later, she retracted the apology. Griffin had trouble booking domestic shows after the fallout and instead performed internationally.