Kathy Griffin now claims she has been uncanceled and vindicated nearly nine years after posing with a fake severed head made to resemble President Donald Trump, a stunt that triggered a national backlash and serious professional fallout.
According to Daily Mail, the 65-year-old comedian reflected on the controversy in a Thursday interview with WUSF, describing how the infamous 2017 photo cost her high-profile jobs, subjected her to a federal investigation, and effectively froze her career. I think I'm uncanceled, which is a miracle to me because I didn't think I would ever be uncanceled, the Emmy-winning comic said, casting herself as a survivor of what many on the left derided at the time as an overreaction, but which millions of Americans saw as a grotesque attack on a sitting president.
The Oak Park, Illinois native recounted the depth of the professional damage, saying she was effectively blacklisted for years before slowly clawing her way back into the public eye. I didn't work for seven years, Griffin said, and then when I went back on tour last time, which I made a special out of, which is free on YouTube, it's called Kathy Griffin My Life on the PTSD List.
Griffin conceded that the image, shot by photographer Tyler Shields, has permanently fused with her public identity, even as she tries to reframe it as edgy political art rather than a tasteless provocation. People still define me by it, she admitted, acknowledging that the photo remains the central reference point for her career in the minds of many Americans.
Now, with Trump having endured years of investigations, media attacks, and partisan lawfare, Griffin portrays herself as a kind of prophetic artist whose shocking image was simply ahead of the cultural curve. Now, I really own it, and I absolutely lean into it, because I was right, and I was ahead of my time, Griffin said. And so, when I look at that picture now, I'm very proud of it, because I know Donald.
She emphasized that her familiarity with Trump long predated his political rise, suggesting that her personal history with him informed the stunt that conservatives and many independents saw as crossing a moral and civic line. I've known him since the '90s, Griffin said. I've worked with him, and the fact that he came for me specifically was so bizarre.
Griffin recalled that, in earlier years, Trump treated her as a comic foil rather than an enemy, responding to her presence with exaggerated mock fear. 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. Dont make fun of the hair, Griffin said, painting a picture of a more lighthearted, pre-political Trump.
She credited fellow comedian Jim Carrey with offering advice that helped her reframe the scandal as material rather than merely a career-ending catastrophe. Even when horrible things were happening to me, I kept thinking of what Jim Carrey told me when he called me the day the [Trump] picture blew up, and he said most comedians would give their right arm for this to happen to them, Griffin said.
The My Life on the D-List star recalled that Carrey urged her to channel the ordeal into her act, turning personal crisis into performance. I was crying, and Jim said, Put it through your Kathy Griffin comedy prism, and something funny will come out of it, she said, adding that she eventually did just that on her return to the stage.
And then when I finally went back on the road after seven years, it was fantastic, Griffin said, describing a warm reception that contrasts sharply with the outrage that followed the photo. And I can't believe how wonderful the audiences have been, every single audience. It's like they're embracing me.
At the height of the backlash, Griffin lost her New Years Eve hosting role with CNN alongside Anderson Cooper, a lucrative and high-visibility slot on a network that had long positioned itself as a leading Trump antagonist. Trump himself publicly condemned the image, tweeting, Kathy Griffin should be ashamed of herself. My children, especially my 11 year old son, Barron, are having a hard time with this. Sick!
Griffin initially issued a contrite video statement, acknowledging that she had crossed a line that many Americansregardless of partyconsidered basic decency toward the office of the presidency and the presidents family. I sincerely apologize, she said. 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.
She has since argued that the concept was rooted in Trumps own rhetoric, saying the idea drew on his crude remarks about journalist Megyn Kelly and blood, a justification that may resonate with progressive audiences but is unlikely to persuade those who saw the stunt as emblematic of a broader cultural double standard.
While conservatives who remember the episode as a low point in political discourse may not share Griffins sense of vindication, her insistence on being very proud of the image underscores how deeply polarized the country remains over what counts as legitimate political expression and what crosses into dehumanizing a political opponent.
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