Kathy Griffin went to bat for Lisa Lampanelli on Wednesday, savaging celebrity news outlet TMZ for its coverage of Lampanelli's encounter with a heckler over the weekend.
In a multi-part Twitter vent, former "My Life on the D-List" star accused the outlet of treating Lampanelli "like a crazy woman" with a story describing the encounter as a "nuclear meltdown."
"I've been warning about the dangers of TMZ with respect to what they cover, don't cover, and how they frame 'news,'" Griffin began. "Now they're trying to mess with my friend @LisaLampanelli and just like my support of @iamsambee, I'm not going to allow TMZ to do to Lisa what they did to me."
As Griffin saw it in her social-media jeremiad, Lampanelli was dealing with a "jerk" who was "ruining" her show, and handled the situation as she typically does with heckling.
"So Lisa, doing what she does best, goes off on him. It's something she always does with hecklers. Someone sent a tape of it to TMZ and this is how they framed it: 'Nuclear Meltdown,'" Griffin wrote, accompanied by a screen grab of the story.
"Lisa is standing up for herself and her fans and she's treated, by TMZ, like a crazy woman," Griffin continued. "She didn't go after the guy unprompted - he went after her. They have 'Nuclear Meltdown' on top and in the description of the video."
"Women already have to deal with being seen as crazy and TMZ has taken a moment that was not Lisa's doing and turned it against her," Griffin added. "Watch the video they posted. Really important to watch/listen because Lisa does nothing out of the ordinary (for her). This clip isn't newsworthy."
Griffin went on to accuse TMZ of employing similar tactics with "women and people of color."
"This is what TMZ does to women and people of color. They take normal incidents and they elevate them to scandal," Griffin wrote. "They take scandalous incidents and turn them into career ending incidents (what they tried to do to me). And then even after the story does damage..they keep going."
Griffin concluded by posting a photo of herself and Lampanelli, along with the message, "This stuff tends to stick to women our age and I wrote this thread to stand up for my friend @LisaLampanelli and also to continue to warn everyone about the dangers of TMZ. There's no way I'm letting them do this again."
TheWrap has reached out to TMZ for comment on Griffin's criticism.
In the video posted by TMZ, Lampanelli can be heard telling the heckler, "Get the f--- out" and offering to personally refund his money for the show.
Read Griffin's full defense of Lampanelli -- and condemnation of TMZ -- here.
A) I've been warning about the dangers of TMZ with respect to what they cover, don't cover, and how they frame "news". Now they're trying to mess with my friend @LisaLampanelli and just like my support of @iamsambee, I'm not going to allow TMZ to do to Lisa what they did to me.
Kathy Griffin Isn't Alone: 8 Other Celebrities Who've Been Eyed by the Feds (Photos)
Comedian Kathy Griffin, who caught heat last week after posing with a facsimile of President Donald Trump's severed head, said during a press conference Friday that Trump and his family have targeted her for retaliation, and that she is now the subject of a Secret Service investigation over the photo.
While Griffin's attorney, Lisa Bloom, called the situation "outrageous and unprecedented," that's not entirely true -- at least not the "unprecedented part." Read on for other entertainers who came under government scrutiny.
In the '80s, Milt Ahlerich. FBI assistant director of the FBI's office of public affairs, wrote a letter to rap group N.W.A's label Priority Records, saying that 78 police officers were "feloniously slain in the line of duty during 1988 . . . and recordings such as the one from N.W.A are both discouraging and degrading to these brave, dedicated officers," a reference to the N.W.A song "F--k Tha Police."
"I wanted you to be aware of the FBI's position relative to this song and its message. I believe my views reflect the opinion of the entire law enforcement community," the letter continued.
"Rocky Mountain High" singer John Denver was the subject of an FBI file that labeled the folk singer a narcotics user and noted his scheduled appearance a a 1971 anti-war rally in Minnesota.
Ill-fated Playboy Playmate/actress Anna Nicole Smith was investigated by the FBI in 2000 and 2001 over an alleged murder-for-hire plot against E. Pierce Marshall, the son of Smith's oil-tycoon husband J. Howard Marshall, who fought to prevent Smith from inheriting his father's fortune.
Silent-film legend Charlie Chaplin was the subject of a decades-long probe by the FBI, which sought to determine if he was a Communist. The final entry in Chaplin's FBI file was made in 1978, a year after the actor's death.
In the 1960s, the FBI requested to interview actor Rock Hudson, stemming from the belief that the actor had "homosexual tendencies." The interview, the bureau noted, was to be conducted by "two mature experienced Special Agents."
"I Love Lucy" star Lucille Ball earned a place on the FBI's radar because her possible Communist ties. The actress had admitted to the House Un-American Activities Committee that she had registered to vote as a Communist in 1936, saying that she only did so to satisfy her socialist grandfather. The HUAC let her off the hook, but the FBI continued to amass information on her nonetheless.
Thanks to his alignment with the anti-war movement, former Beatle John Lennon was placed under FBI surveillance in 1971, with the INS launching a campaign to deport the musician the following year. The FBI noted that "Lennon should be arrested, if at all possible, on possession of narcotics charges ... which would make him more immediately deportable."
In Mach, after Snoop Dogg released the video "Lavender," which featured the rapper shooting a clown-faced Donald Trump stand-in with a toy gun, a spokesman for the Secret Service told TheWrap that the Service was "aware of" the video, declining further public comment.
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From Lucille Ball to Snoop Dogg, comedian is in good company
Comedian Kathy Griffin, who caught heat last week after posing with a facsimile of President Donald Trump's severed head, said during a press conference Friday that Trump and his family have targeted her for retaliation, and that she is now the subject of a Secret Service investigation over the photo.
While Griffin's attorney, Lisa Bloom, called the situation "outrageous and unprecedented," that's not entirely true -- at least not the "unprecedented part." Read on for other entertainers who came under government scrutiny.
