Kathy Griffin has lost a decade-long gig ringing in the new year for CNN as a backlash builds over her video displaying a likeness of President Donald Trump's severed head.
CNN, which had called the images "disgusting and offensive" after Griffin posted the video, announced it would not invite her back this year for the Times Square live New Year's Eve special she had co-hosted annually since 2007 with CNN's Anderson Cooper.
Kathy Griffin Beheads Donald Trump in Shocking Photo Shoot (PHOTO) https://t.co/UM9GHRrFf5
— TMZ (@TMZ) May 30, 2017
A New Mexico casino has also cancelled a performance by Griffin, who was scheduled to perform at Route 66 Casino, operated by Laguna Pueblo, on July 22.
And a commercial endorsement deal was cancelled just weeks after she landed it. Squatty Potty, a Utah-based company whose products include toilet stools and other bathroom accessories, said it was suspending an ad campaign that featured Griffin.
"We were shocked and disappointed" by the video, said Bobby Edwards, the company's CEO. "It was deeply inappropriate and runs contrary to the core values our company stands for."
"I am a true supporter of free speech, but feel Kathy crossed the line," Edwards added. "I regret having to make these decisions, but have no choice."
Griffin's video made Trump seethe. Tweeting Wednesday morning, he said Griffin "should be ashamed of herself" for creating the video. "My children, especially my 11-year-old son, Barron, are having a hard time with this. Sick!"
Kathy Griffin should be ashamed of herself. My children, especially my 11 year old son, Barron, are having a hard time with this. Sick!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 31, 2017
First lady Melania Trump issued a statement of her own: "As a mother, a wife, and a human being, that photo is very disturbing. When you consider some of the atrocities happening in the world today, a photo opportunity like this is simply wrong and makes you wonder about the mental health of the person who did it."
Griffin, a comic known for her abrasive style of humour, had apologized, conceding that the brief video, which she originally described as an "artsy-fartsy statement" mocking the commander in chief, was "too disturbing" and wasn't funny.
"I went too far," she says in her contrite follow-up video. "I sincerely apologize."
I am sorry. I went too far. I was wrong. pic.twitter.com/LBKvqf9xFB
— Kathy Griffin (@kathygriffin) May 30, 2017
In her apology video, Griffin begged her fans for forgiveness and says she has asked the photographer to remove the images. "I made a mistake, and I was wrong," she says.
But it was too late.
Griffin's comedy approach trades on a self-deprecating streak (she brands herself as mired on the "D List" of show biz) while she targets celebs who are higher up the food chain. And while she may never have riled a celeb of the magnitude of President Trump, the 56-year-old comic has gotten into trouble with her wisecracks.
In 2005 she was fired from her job as an E! network red-carpet commentator after joking at the Golden Globe Awards that child actress Dakota Fanning had checked into rehab.
Two years later, while accepting an Emmy for her Bravo reality series, Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D List, she declared that "a lot of people come up here and thank Jesus for this award. I want you to know that no one had less to do with this award than Jesus."
Then she held up her trophy and said, "Suck it, Jesus. THIS is my God now!"
Her appearance was during the Creative Arts Emmys ceremony, which wasn't aired live but instead was taped for later broadcast by E! Her remarks were therefore edited. But reports of what she said drew fire from many, including Catholic League President Bill Donohue, who called it a "vulgar, in-your-face brand of hate speech."
Griffin remained unrepentant.
"I have a no-apology policy," she told CBS News in 2012. "No apologies for jokes. I apologize in my real life all the time. I say ridiculous things, I make mistakes constantly. But when I'm onstage, I'm at a microphone ... it's a joke!"
She said the fallout from her Emmy stunt was "heaven" for her: "I mean, it was comedy gold."
Backlash
The video was met with an instant backlash from both sides of the political divide.
.@kathygriffin I'm sorry but that is totally inappropriate and so very offensive. And I have to believe you're smart enough to know better.
— Alyssa Milano (@Alyssa_Milano) May 30, 2017
It wasn't right when peoplel hung lynched Obama effigies, just as what Kathy Griffin did isn't right now.
— Debra Messing (@DebraMessing) May 30, 2017
This is vile and wrong. It is never funny to joke about killing a president. https://t.co/zIiuKoMyFw
— Chelsea Clinton (@ChelseaClinton) May 30, 2017
Our politics have become too base, too low, & too vulgar, but Kathy Griffin's post descends into an even more repugnant & vile territory.
— Mitt Romney (@MittRomney) May 30, 2017
Thanks for setting the anti-Trump movement back about as far as you could. Idiot.
— Reverend Matty (@reverendmatty) May 30, 2017
Will not retweet! Will not like! I've supported you for years, even hired you on 'Ned & Stacey" years ago. This is desperate & disgusting!
— Del Shores (@DelShores) May 30, 2017
Even the US Secret Service sent out an appropriately-veiled tweet in the wake of the photo shoot appearing online:
Thanks, Kathy Griffin, but I really wasn't looking for common ground with Trumpists in support of an ignorant, lying, traitorous, goon thug.
— Jeffrey Wright (@jfreewright) May 30, 2017
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In a follow-up tweet, Griffin clarified that "OBVIOUSLY, I do not condone ANY violence by my fans or others to anyone, ever! I'm merely mocking the Mocker in Chief."
In an interview with EW, photographer Shields said he'd anticipated a backlash but defended the work.
"I think there will be a lot of people who will absolutely hate this, but again, that's the beauty of it," he said.
"Am I saying that anyone should actually be killed? No, it's like a movie. How many movies are there where the president gets killed or this happens? Tons upon tons. But again, when it's an image, especially an image like this, people don't see it like that. They see it as reality, and that's why it's so shocking to some people."
- With news.com.au
