Comedian Kathy Griffin says she is still getting “confronted” about a controversial photo of the president that almost ended her career.
In May 2017, Griffin, 65, posed with a Halloween mask of Donald Trump’s head covered in blood.
The photo was supposed to reference Trump saying “You could see there was blood coming out of her eyes, blood coming out of her… wherever…“ about former Fox News host Megyn Kelly in 2015.
Griffin lost work, including her job on CNN’s New Year’s Eve show, and was put on a no-fly list and federal officials threatened to charge her with conspiracy to assassinate the president.
However, the Emmy winner admitted she has come out of the incident with a new perspective.
“I think it’s accepting that people don’t change,” Griffin told People, noting she had tried to change business and personal relationships over the years.
“And now look, believe it or not, I have quite a few Trumper friends… I think it’s important to be around people that do have different opinions and we get along. So there’s an understanding.”
The comedian admitted that not all her MAGA pals are quite so accepting.
“There are some Trumpers that find me very triggering because of the Trump head picture. So I still am confronted about that photo to this day and complimented about that photo. But I get both.”
Griffin discussed the incident and the fallout in the 2019 concert film A Hell of a Story.
After her comedy career resumed in 2023 with shows in Las Vegas, the comedian revealed she had been diagnosed with “complex PTSD”, stating the impact of the Trump photo controversy had played a part in her anxiety.
Speaking at Out Magazine’s Out100 party, after being awarded the Advocate of the Year, the comedian said the LGBTQ community supported her at her lowest.
“When I was cancelled right away there were gays on Fire Island dressed as me, holding the Trump Halloween mask, mimicking me,” Griffin said. “And through the tears and all the chaos I was like ‘Oh thank god the community didn’t turn on me’.”
She said people need to continue to advocate for the community and continue to protest Trump’s plan to reverse human rights.
“We’re in really tough times for gay people… because this administration is coming for you.”
Griffin said she used to make jokes in her stand up shows about the Trump administration making gay conversion therapy legal again
“The idea that you think that could work is — it was something to laugh at — now it’s real,“ she told People. ”And I think it’s important that everybody stay politically engaged even if politics aren’t your thing because gay rights are civil rights.”
At the time, Trump defended his comments about Kelly and bleeding in a CNN interview with Jake Tapper, claiming he did not mean to allude to menstruation.
“Only a deviant would say that what I said was what they were referring to, because nobody would make that statement,” Trump said. “You almost have to be sick to put that together.”
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