Kathy Griffin says she lost “about a third” of her fans after a controversial photo shoot in which she held a bloody fake head made to resemble former President Donald Trump.
The Emmy Award-winning comedian detailed the impact she experienced after the photos were made public in 2017. One of the effects she spoke about during a recent appearance on Dan Le Batard’s podcast, “South Beach Sessions,” was losing part of her audience forever.
“What hurts me is that we’ve lost about a third of our audience, probably permanently, over the Trump thing,” Griffin said during the podcast broadcast Friday.
“I guess some of my audience are a little more political or a little more liberal, but I was known as someone who made fun of Hollywood and the Kardashians and celebrities, so I was keen to play Southern parts,” she said.
Griffin faced widespread backlash after the photos were made public. She was investigated for conspiring to assassinate the commander in chief and was placed on the no-fly list. That same month, she was fired from CNN, where she co-hosted its New Year’s Eve news show.
“I was questioned under oath,” Griffin said, “and they were seriously considering charging me with conspiracy to assassinate the president of the United States. That’s never happened in the history of comedy.”
She said she used to be afraid to go outside for walks, but that’s now changed.
“Now people come up to me and are much nicer and say, ‘Oh my goodness, you were ahead of your time, I get the pun,'” she says, “but I was scared to walk down the street.”
Griffin said earlier this year that she didn’t understand “how serious” the Justice Department was about prosecuting her after the photos were made public.
“In fact, just recently a Freedom of Information Act report was returned indicating the seriousness with which the authorities are seeking to indict me on charges of conspiracy to assassinate the president of the United States,” she said in January.
