The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Comedian is unbowed after photo backlash
Kathy Griffin’s career has taken a hit, but she’s back on tour.
Kathy Griffin’s comedic stock and trade for most of her career was not remotely political. She was all about telling dishy stories about the Kardashians, Justin Bieber, Ryan Seacrest or whatever celebrity encounter that bemused her.
But she released a veritable political Pandora’s box in May 2017 after posting a picture of herself holding what appeared to be a bloody head that resembled Donald Trump. She considered it a simple visual protest of the president.
Instead, she was pilloried by the right for what was deemed a vicious and vile photo shoot. Trump called it “sick.” She was hounded by death threats, leading promoters to pull concert dates. CNN abruptly cut her from its New Year’s hosting gig. The Department of Justice investigated her as a potential terrorist (and after two months, deemed her not a terrorist). Kiss her Squatty Potty endorsement goodbye.
The good news for her: She toured to receptive audiences in Europe that fall and began booking dates in 2018 in North Amer-
ica, selling out shows in Los Angeles, New York and Boston. She will be at the Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre on Friday.
The bad news: She has been unable to nab any paying film or TV gigs. No streaming service or TV network has been willing to buy up the rights for her stand-up show as a comedy special or docuseries.
“After my tour ends Nov. 4, I have nothing going on,” Griffin said in a recent interview. “Welcome to Hollywood! Not a special, not a show anywhere. It’s a shame. I’m really proud of my story and the historical nature of it. Everyone is afraid of getting a mean tweet from Trump.”
She initially apologized for the photo but has since taken it back with fire and fury. The travails she has gone through have provided her with plenty of fodder for her current show, which she cheekily dubs the “Laugh Your Head Off ” tour.
Griffin said the photo brouhaha cost her millions of dollars in lost income, and her legal fees to fend off the DO J investigation are now in the six figures. She said she was fortunate to have saved a lot of money and has been able to absorb the hit. (She purchased a $10.5 million Bel Air mansion in 2016 in cash.)
She has also become a big cheerleader for the #MeToo movement and has little sympathy for the likes of Louis C.K., Chris Hardwick and Aziz Ansari. “They traumatized these women,” she said. “I know. I’m a girl comedian in a misogynistic field. I’m happy to be a living example of someone who takes the punches and didn’t go down.”
Griffin, for instance, deliberately worked with stylist Suzie Hardy, who accused Seacrest of sexual harassment. (He strongly denied the charges.) “I’m bitter, party of one,” she said. “I’m going to hire this woman. I’m going to pay her because nobody is hiring me after my scandal.”
She is already known for pulling Bruce Springsteentype stand-up shows. While most headliners will do 60 to 90 minutes, she’ll often go for two hours. But she has a lot to get off her chest, and some of her shows this year have ticked close to (or past) the three-hour mark.
She said, “After being told for a year and a half that I will never work again, I treat every show like it’s my last.”
She is promoting her own shows, and her boyfriend Randy Bick is her manager. She built up a mailing list of 200,000 names and chose cities to go to based on where the demand for her shows has been.
While her fan base still includes those who love to hear her dish about the “Housewives,” she jokes that she is now “Kathy Griffin: enemy of the people” and a new, more politically engaged crowd is showing up.
“I’m doing well in Atlanta,” she said. “I’m very happy to go to a red state. I’m excited about Stacey Abrams. I hope she wins in a landslide.”
Emotionally, the aftermath of the photo has been rough, she acknowledged. She certainly found out who her true friends were. CNN’s Anderson Cooper? A complete loss. In contrast, actor Jim Carrey, whom she didn’t really consider someone she was all that close to, called her when the situation was blowing up and gave her advice she took to heart.
He told her that she has a story, “that when all this is said and done, you can put this through the Kathy Griffin comedy prism and you’ll have a story any comedian would give their right arm to have.”
“I’m now fully embracing the photo,” she said. “I was put through the Trump wood chipper although I didn’t break the law. Now I’m out and putting people on blast.
“I will be addressing it the rest of my life,” Griffin conceded. “I’m just glad to have the opportunity to tell the whole story.”