Kathy Griffin plays faux victim card

Earlier this week, I said I accepted Kathy Griffin’s apology.

She Tweeted something awful — a photoshopped image of her holding our country’s president’s decapitated head — and quickly took it down and apologized.

She lost several jobs, including a gig on CNN, which is not exactly a bastion of pro-Donald Trump views.

But those consequences are part of doing something stupid and moving on. We are all human; we are all flawed.

But now comes word that Griffin has found an attorney because, as she claimed Friday at a news conference, “I don’t think I’ll have a career after this. He broke me.”

No, ma’am, you broke you. You and the photographer came up with this lame and awful stunt to push the envelope of your D-level celebrity career.

Now that the backlash is becoming clear — remember freedom of speech does not mean freedom from responsibility for that speech — Griffin obviously sees the aftermath will not be pleasant. So she has decided to blame someone — anyone — else.

Now that she is claiming she was bullied — which is insulting to those who are actually bullied from the ages of 8 to 80 — her act is even more tired.

Simply put, the power of the consumer has never been more strongly felt, and that power is registered on each side of the aisle. Whether it was the NBA pulling out of North Carolina because of the HB2 bill or Fox firing Bill O’Reilly because sponsors were canceling their ads or now with Griffin losing her job because of the backlash.

It’s the same premise across each case, but this time the perpetrator is blaming the target.

It is no different in Hollywood. Mel Gibson was forced into exile because of some drunken rants. Michael Richards — who at the time everyone knew as Kramer from “Seinfeld” — could not get work because of some racial slurs.

Did those guys blame Jewish people or black people for their mistakes?

Here’s some bull from her civil attorney Lisa Bloom, who also addressed reporters outside of L.A. on Friday and said Griffin was under investigation by the Secret Service:

“The message is clear: make fun of the president and lose your job. And that’s what’s happened to Kathy, and more. As a result of the first family’s bullying of her, and those she does business with, Kathy has been vilified, received many death threats, had her personal website and social media channels shut down, been fired from multiple jobs, and had several events canceled.

“She has had to retain a criminal attorney. For the first time in history that we are aware of, the president of the United States and his family personally attempted to ruin a comedian. This has been a living nightmare for Kathy.”

Wow, the inaccuracies in that assertion are staggering.

As for Griffin’s attorney’s stance that, “The message is clear: make fun of the president and lose your job,” my question would be, “On what planet?”

Comedians everywhere are making tons of hay with Trump in the Oval Office.

Alec Baldwin has never been more popular — for his impersonation of President Trump.

“Saturday Night Live” is at a two-decade viewership high because of poking fun at the president.

Stephen Colbert has gone from third to first in the late night talk show ratings because of his commentary of the president.

Try to name a comedian who does not have a Trump bit in their act. I’m waiting.

As for the Secret Service and the fact that Griffin needed a criminal attorney, my 9-year-old knows if you make public threats to the president of the United States, there will be federal agents looking into your past and present.

That’s not bullying, Ms. Griffin, that’s protocol.

Here’s the thing: There are so many things to poke fun at Donald Trump about and so many folks doing it.

Take a stance on his miscues in various ventures. But a severed head? That’s not funny. It’s not creative. It’s not entertaining or smart or clever.

And you know what, Kathy, comedians lose their jobs for stuff like that.

You would have had a better chance to come back if you had apologized, stayed out of sight for a while and then tried to come back.

But to claim you are the victim here is an insult to victims everywhere.

Contact Jay Greeson at jgreeson@timesfreepress.com and 423-757-6343.