Kathy Griffin has rescinded her apology for the photo of herself posing with a bloodied Donald Trump mask that cost her a stand-up tour, a job at CNN and a friendship with Anderson Cooper.
In an interview with Australia’s Seven Network, the comedian told “Sunrise” co-hosts David Koch and Samantha Armytage that she “is no longer sorry” for the photo that stirred up so much outrage.
“The whole outrage was B.S.” Griffin said. “The whole thing got so blown out of proportion and I lost everybody. Like, I had Chelsea Clinton tweeting against me. I had friends — Debra Messing from ‘Will & Grace,’ tweeting against me. I mean, I lost everybody. So, I have been through the mill.”
“These Trump fans, they’re hardcore,” she said. “They’re a minority, but they know how to act like a majority.”
Griffin pushed back when Armytage pointed out that neither Clinton nor Messing are “Trump fans,” and that criticism of the photo came from across the political spectrum.
“No, you’re full of crap, you know this,” Griffin said. “Stop acting like my little picture is more important than talking about the actual atrocities that the president of the United States is committing.”
The comments directly contradict what Griffin said in a video in the days after the photo was published and was immediately met with immense backlash. “It wasn’t funny, I get it,” she said at the time, promising to take down the image. “I beg for your forgiveness, I went too far, I made a mistake, and I was wrong.”
Taken by photographer Tyler Shields, the photo was also met with an investigation from the Secret Service.
Griffin has avoided discussing the photo since the initial uproar, but seems to have reversed course in recent days, choosing instead to stand by it.
In a profile New York magazine published on Monday, Griffin revealed that she ended her friendship with Anderson Cooper, with whom she hosted CNN’s New Year’s Eve coverage for a decade, after he publicly condemned the photo.
“President Trump just pardoned Joe Arpaio, who was essentially running a concentration camp in the Arizona desert,” Griffin said. “He said there are some good Nazis, and he’s kicking out young adults who were brought here as kids by their parents, and I’m the one who has to continue to apologize?”
“I’m no longer sorry. The whole outrage was BS” – controversial comedienne @KathyGriffin on THAT @realDonaldTrump photo. #sun7 pic.twitter.com/j444Vnqoxe
— Sunrise (@sunriseon7) August 28, 2017