Griffin honored for LGBTQ activism
LOS ANGELES — Kathy Griffin paid tribute Tuesday night to Kate Spade by dressing head to toe in the late designer’s apparel to accept an honor for her activism and fundraising for LGBTQ causes.
Griffin did not personally know the designer but gave a brief tribute to Spade while accepting the Rainbow Key award from the city of West Hollywood, Calif. Spade was found dead Tuesday in New York in what authorities said was an apparent suicide.
West Hollywood leaders recognized Griffin for raising more than $5 million for HIV/AIDS services and other LGBTQ activism.
Griffin is in the midst of a comeback following controversy and personal and professional setbacks after she posed for a photo holding a fake dismembered Donald Trump head in May 2017. She initially apologized for the photo but later rescinded it. By then, the damage was done, with Griffin losing several jobs and receiving death threats.
West Hollywood leaders have expressed opposition to Trump’s policies affecting the LGBTQ community, and Griffin delivered a fiery yet comedic speech in the City Council chambers, calling for action against the Trump administration’s policies, saying, “It’s shirts and skins,” and called for members of the community to pick a team.
Griffin also envisioned a day when a gay president might occupy the White House.
“So, when we have our first gay president, which I hope to see, I just want you to know that for all I’ve put up with in the last 25 years, I better be invited to a state dinner, and I want to stay in the Lincoln bedroom,” she said. “I’ve put in my time.”