Kathy Griffin knows a thing or two about getting targeted by the president, and she’s never one to bite her tongue about it.
The comic let loose on the Jimmy Kimmel controversy on Tuesday’s “Talk Your Head Off” podcast, dedicating a chunk of the episode to standing up for the late night host and defending the First Amendment.
“Man, do I wish somebody had done this for me,” she said of the outpouring of support around Kimmel. “I’m just gonna be honest: It still hurts. It was nine years ago for me … It still hurts that nobody did stuff like this for me where they would dedicate a whole episode to just standing up for the First Amendment. Because my First Amendment rights were truly violated because I had the actual Department of Justice coming after me, not a private company, so that’s what’s happening to Jimmy right now.”
Griffin memorably faced professional fallout and political harassment after posing with a severed head in the likeness of President Donald Trump. The photoshoot led to the Department of Justice investigating the comic for conspiracy to assassinate the president.
Now Kimmel finds himself in the Trump administration’s crosshairs after joking that First Lady Melania Trump has the glow of an “expectant widow,” in a nod to her 24-year age gap with the 79-year-old president. Trump has called on ABC to fire the late night host, and the Brendan Carr-led FCC has ordered an early renewal review of the network’s broadcast licenses.
Griffin pointed out on Tuesday that Kimmel made the now-notorious “widow” joke on Thursday evening — two days before a shooter attempted to overtake the White House Correspondents’ Dinner on Saturday.
“Now, the joke was made prior to the alleged assassination attempt,” she said. “That is the most important thing to remember, so of course the MAGA people are losing their minds, and I guess they think Jimmy Kimmel manifested this or something, which is just funny that they can’t even do a timeline.”
After reading through the transcripts of the president’s statement, the first lady’s statement, and Kimmel’s own statement from Monday night’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” monologue, Griffin recounted the fallout she experienced in 2017.
“Now this is something, keep in mind, that has happened to me,” she said. “So I know firsthand, listen to Aunt Kathy, what it’s like when the president of the United States cries like a baby from the Oval and then engages the Department of Justice, the U.S. attorneys office and the Secret Service to put me on the no-fly list, interrogate me under oath and try seriously to charge me with the crime of conspiracy to assassinate the president of the United States.”
Watch the full “Talk Your Head Off” episode below:
