Kathy Griffin Slams Michelle Wolf’s Media Critics: ‘When’s the Last Time You Demanded Trump Apologize?’
”Anyone…demanding she apologize needs to demand that Trump apologize for calling women fat pigs, slobs, talking about their bodies,“ writes Griffin in a lengthy Twitter thread
Kathy Griffin “loved” that Michelle Wolf’s jokes at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner made, as she put it, “backwards dinosaurs uncomfortable,” and took to Twitter Sunday to defend her fellow comedian, who has been hit hard with criticism.
“Michelle Wolf’s set was great. She was hilarious and confident,” Griffin wrote in a lengthy thread, adding that the “Daily Show” contributor “took no prisoners” and that she “went after everyone,” not just press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders.
But it was Wolf’s comments about Sanders that created an enormous backlash, as many felt that the comedian got way too personal.
“I have to admit I’m a little starstruck,” Wolf said during her act. “Sarah, I love you as Aunt Lydia in ‘The Handmaid’s Tale.'”
And she didn’t stop there. “Every time Sarah steps up to the podium, I get excited, because I’m not really sure what we’re gonna get,” Wolf said. “You know, a press briefing, a bunch of lies, or divided into softball teams.”
Griffin explained that Wolf wasn’t hired to be fair and balanced; She was hired to “roast,” to poke fun at powerful people.
“A comic’s job is to go over the line and then push the line and go over it again…By pushing the line we force people to think differently, to ask questions, and disrupt the status quo,” Griffin wrote.
The media’s criticism of Wolf while giving a pass to some of President Trump’s comments and behavior is a bone of contention for Griffin. Demand for Wolf and the White Couse Correspondents’ Association to apologize are “absurd,” wrote Griffin, pointing out that the media has never demanded that the president or his staff apologize for their “horrific” statements.
“I’ll tell you what has the media so upset,” Griffin wrote, “because @michelleisawolf told the truth about them last night and the role they played in allowing Trump’s rise. They hate to be called out on their bulls–t, it’s painful..I get it. But she said what needed to be said.”
Griffin concluded, “Anyone pearl clutching over her comments and demanding she apologize needs to demand that Trump apologize for calling women fat pigs, slobs, talking about their bodies.”
Click here to read Griffin’s entire thread on the issue.
7 People Defending Kathy Griffin After Decapitated Trump Photo Shoot (Photos)
Kathy Griffin's photo of herself posing with the severed head of Donald Trump has been met with widespread condemnation and already cost the comedian her gig at CNN. But a few individuals are still publicly standing by Griffin, even if they don't entirely approve of her actions.
Jim Carrey came to Griffin's defense when asked about the photo at the premiere of his Showtime series "I'm Dying Up Here." Carrey told Entertainment Tonight that it's Griffin's duty to "cross the line at all times," adding that comedians are the "last line of defense."
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Ricky Gervais also defended Griffin in an interview with TheWrap, saying that the photo was in poor taste, but ultimately harmless. "The only way you could say she went wrong was that it was a bit crass," Gervais said. "It wasn't great art. But OK, let’s say it was bad art. So what? Nobody got hurt. That wasn’t a real head."
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The photographer Tyler Shields is also defending the photo as an artistic statement and an expression of his First Amendment right to free speech. "There’s the famous quote, 'I don’t agree with you, but I’ll defend your right to say it,'” Shields told Entertainment Weekly. "I might not agree with [Trump], she definitely doesn’t agree with him, but I’ll defend my right to be able to say whatever I want until I die."
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"I still love Kathy Griffin," Jamie Foxx told Entertainment Tonight, when asked about the backlash. "Don't kill the comedian! There's a lot of people out here doing really bad things and every time a comedian says anything, says something about peanuts, [people say], 'You're peanut-shaming!' [A comedian] says something about dolphins [people say], 'Oh my god, you're a dolphin-shamer.' We're the comics, we're entertainers, we don't mean any harm."
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Former CNN star Larry King took a similar stance, saying the image was “in terrible taste,” but ultimately expressing sympathy for Griffin as a friend. “She’s my friend. She made a mistake. She apologized. Let it go," King told TMZ, adding that he would not have fired Griffin had he been running CNN.
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‘Inside Amy Schumer’ writer Mike Lawrence came down on Griffin for apologizing for the stunt in a post on Facebook. “You know what you did and should own it. It wasn’t a riff onstage or a joke you had done once or twice," he wrote. "You wanted a reaction and got it. So live in it. Don’t apologize."
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Rosie O’Donnell tweeted about Griffin’s stunt by saying that she “didn’t find it funny at all.” But the longtime Trump critic has also retweeted a number of messages from users who say that similar actions — including people burning or lynching effigies of Barack Obama — have not been met with the same level of outrage.
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Civil rights attorney Lisa Bloom announced on Thursday that she will represent Griffin, and will host a press conference on Friday to "explain the true motivation behind the image, and respond to the bullying from the Trump family she has endured."
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Griffin has been criticized from both the left and the right, but a few people are standing by her
Kathy Griffin's photo of herself posing with the severed head of Donald Trump has been met with widespread condemnation and already cost the comedian her gig at CNN. But a few individuals are still publicly standing by Griffin, even if they don't entirely approve of her actions.