No performer attracted the rage of the president the way Kathy Griffin did, perhaps because her reality show “My Life on the D List” had won two Emmys. (Trump often complained that he never won one.) Moreover, Griffin was fluent in the populist culture of the Kardashians and thus she could get into the heads of tabloid aficionados, a capability that eluded most Democrats. Much of her humor was in the tradition of insult comedians, but she made a distinction between her approach and the new president’s: “I punch up. Trump punches down.”
She had met Trump frequently over the years, including an appearance on “Celebrity Apprentice.” “I saw him as an over-the-top, fame-hungry, harmless blowhard,” Griffin told me. The comedian was horrified as Trump brought his reality-show mentality into the White House. “The premise of ‘The Apprentice’ is antithetical to what actually makes a good business. Trump advised the contestants to be as divisive among themselves as possible. That’s not how you run an administration. I’m not a historian. I’m not Michael Beschloss — but I know that !“
Four months into Trump’s presidency on May 31, 2017, Griffin posted a gag photo on Instagram in which she held up a rubber mask of Donald Trump’s face smeared with ketchup — a fantasy of the president’s head cut off. Trump’s team felt they found a fight they could win: destroying the career of a show business critic while intimidating other entertainers in the process.
Griffin ruefully recalled, “I thought the photo would have a shelf life of two days. I learned that there is such a thing as bad publicity.” The photographer leaked the image to the celebrity-centric website TMZ, whose founder, Harvey Levin, subsequently told The Daily Beast that he is in regular touch with Trump and boasted, “I consider myself to be his personal publicist.”
The president tweeted: “Kathy Griffin should be ashamed of herself. My children, especially my 11 year old son Baron, are having a hard time with this—sick.” Melania chimed in: “As a mother, wife and human being—that photo makes you wonder about the mental health of the person who did it.” On Fox News, Sean Hannity called Griffin an ISIS sympathizer—as if the stylized photo was in the same moral universe as actual beheadings.
These attacks were soon followed by a cascade of rejections from mainstream show business. Griffin had twenty-five stand-up performances scheduled, but the offers were abruptly pulled because of the supposed risk of violent protest and each cancellation was reported in real time on TMZ. CNN fired her from her New Year’s Eve gig and reported its decision as “breaking news.” Anderson Cooper, who had co-hosted the annual celebration with Griffin for years, cravenly tweeted, “I am appalled by the photo shoot Kathy Griffin took part in.” Griffin’s agency, WME, dropped her as a…
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