Kathy Griffin graces the cover of The Hollywood Reporter this week, where she discusses the ongoing fallout from the controversial image of her holding a fake, bloodied head of Donald Trump. While Griffin has returned to work after losing a spokesperson role and seeing several comedy venues cancel her shows, she describes herself as effectively trapped inside her $10.5 million Bel Air estate. Griffin pointedly reveals the property’s cost to the reporter, noting she paid cash, and calls it her “F-You House.” Her central argument in the interview is that she is not a criminal, and she blames others for treating her as one.
[From The Hollywood Reporter]
To be clear, I don’t believe Griffin did anything wrong. I consider it a poorly thought-out idea, but that’s as much attention as I give it. Honestly, I hadn’t thought about it since her last mention, when she announced her Laugh Your Head Off Tour. I sympathize with her financial losses, but that was always a risk she took when she told photographer Tyler Shields to “get it out there in whatever way the kids are getting things these days.” Reading the full article, it seems Griffin is the only one still serving any kind of sentence. I think she isolated herself to orchestrate a major comeback. The issue is that a comeback only works if people care about the controversy, and most have likely moved on. The interviewer describes a second meeting at Ivy on the Shore in Santa Monica, a spot celebrities visit to be seen. Griffin, who says she rarely goes out since ‘the photo,’ arrived in a black Maserati, dressed to attract attention. Yet, “despite the theatrical entrance, no one in the packed room seems to notice her; if they do, they don’t seem to care.” The interviewer notes that Griffin “seems a little surprised.”
Griffin discussed the FBI investigation that followed the photo’s release. I doubt anyone genuinely saw her as a threat, but I assume it’s standard procedure for such cases. However, while the FBI investigated her, they also provided protection, including teaching her how to sort mail and which items to bag for their review. Obviously, Griffin received serious threats, and I’m glad she took precautions. But this undermines her narrative of being attacked by everyone. The investigation lasted only two months, yet the FBI still monitors her safety. I believe she keeps prolonging this saga—along with feuds with Anderson Cooper, Andy Cohen, and now Lisa Bloom—to engineer a “return from scandal.” It’s a clever strategy, but poorly executed.
Griffin says she’s keeping her short hair after shaving it off in tribute to her sister, Joyce, who died from cancer in September. I found it a touching gesture, and I’m sorry Joyce ultimately lost her battle with the disease.
Photo credit: Adam Amengual/The Hollywood Reporter
