Kathy Griffin is back, sort of. At least, she’s trying to come back, and the Los Angeles Times is trying to help her.
The paper released a glowing profile of the comedian on Thursday, detailing her struggles to find gigs after the headless Trump scandal — the one where she posed with what looked like the bloody, severed head of the president.
“My stunt was on brand,” Griffin told the Los Angeles Times. “I knew it was a strong statement. I also know about the history of that kind of imagery and comedians taking those leaps and going to drastic measures. The photo was pre-Harvey Weinstein and pre-MeToo. It was still a time when it was easier to dog pile on a woman and someone like me.”
So Griffin, who has been blacklisted since she pulled her vulgar stunt two years ago, appears to believe that she wouldn’t have faced such backlash if she had waited to joke about killing the president until after a movement began to empower victims of sexual assault.
What?
This may not be what Griffin wants to hear, but she wasn’t blacklisted because she’s a woman. She was blacklisted because her joke was in terrible taste, and it, like most of her humor, wasn’t funny. It’s insulting to appropriate the plight of sexual assault victims to defend her own collapse.
Griffin, who has a documentary about herself coming out later this month, never appears apologetic for posing with a prop of the president’s severed head. Instead of going on an apology tour, Griffin is doubling down, turning to literally any other source than herself to place blame.
Still playing the victim, Griffin even maintained that she wouldn’t have been blacklisted if she were … blond?
“I’m very aware that this situation would have not been the same for Gwyneth Paltrow or Ellen DeGeneres, someone who’s beloved and blond. All the things I’m not,” she said. “I’ve been poking the bear in my comedy for a while, and this was a way for people to put me in my place. That is painful for me to think that I engender in people when I’m just trying to make them laugh. But I think that’s a reality.”
Sorry, but assailing your political opponents doesn’t mean you’re poking the bear. Sometimes, it’s just an excuse for real comedy.
However the documentary fares, or whoever continues not to invite her on their show, at least Griffin will have an excuse. It’s not because she’s not funny; it’s because society just isn’t ready for such an enlightened woman. She can feed that line to her remaining fans.
