Kathy Griffin is speaking out — about a whole lot of things — in a five minute-plus “State of the Union” video she posted over the weekend.
The highlights include her take on backlash Lena Dunham received over the weekend for defending a “Girls” writer accused of rape, and telling fans that she is on one of Hollywood’s infamous “blacklists.”
In a video posted to her YouTube on Saturday, Griffin said she is “fully in the middle of a blacklist.”
“I am in the middle of a Hollywood blacklist. It is real, I am not booked on any talk shows, I’m selling tickets world wide, which is really hard when you don’t have any kind of television platform, and kind of nobody has your back — everyone thinks your crazy,” the comedian said.
“But a handful of people think I’m kind of onto something,” she continued. “So I just want you guys to know, when I get home, I do not have one single day of paid work in front of me.”
She said she’s worked way too hard to go back to the “club scene,” where she would only be getting 10 minute sets. She said “there is hope out there” and her end goal is to inspire young women, young LGBTQ people and to have other “disenfranchised” groups watch her succeed with humor.
Griffin also discussed the “turning point” in Hollywood when it comes to “feminism” and “women’s equality,” saying that for her as a 57-year-old, “it’s not a marathon, it’s a sprint.”
She said that she heard about the criticism Dunham received for defending writer Murray Miller, who has been accused of sexual assault by actress Aurora Perrineau. Dunham has since retracted her defense of Miller.
“I read today that my pal Lena Dunham is sticking up for some male writer that was accused of sexual harassment,” Griffin said in the video. “I don’t know the details, but my first instinct is ‘girl, that’s not helping the movement.’ And it’s a movement.”
“Don’t be too hard on Lena, don’t me too hard on me,” she added.
Watch the full video above.