Kathy Griffin continued to blame President Donald Trump for her current career status and said she can’t tour the United States “without getting shot.”
“The photo [of Griffin holding Trump’s severed head] was on TMZ, then Drudge tweeted it, and then Don Jr. [Trump] retweeted Drudge,” the 57-year-old comedian shared in an interview published Wednesday in Politico. Earlier this year, the comedian participated in a photo shoot in which she holds a bloody severed head of Trump.
Shortly,after pictures of the shoot surfaced, she issued an apology for taking things too far, only to retract that apology a few months later. (RELATED: Rosie O’Donnell Convinced Kathy Griffin To Apologize For Beheaded Trump Photo)
(Photo: Getty Images)
“But the president’s Twitter feed is the greatest programming director ever,” Griffin added. “The minute he tweeted that tweet about me, it was literally breaking news on every channel.”
“It was very soon after the [James] Comey firing,” she continued. “He [Trump] absolutely used me as a tool to distract from his bad news of the day. After that, I had to go offline because of the death threats. He didn’t use my handle in his tweet, so he didn’t have my followers coming after him.”
“I think it would have been gone in a week without his tweet,” Griffin shared. “Trump knows what would be perceived as something hysterical and he loves hysteria. There are millions of people who think I’m a member of ISIS to this day.”
The comedian said while she was welcomed with open arms during her recent 15-country tour overseas, she blamed the president for the reason her 50-city tour was cancelled in the U.S. after he tweeted about the incident.
“They were thrilled to have someone come over and make fun of Trump,” Griffin explained. “I wish I could tour in the U.S. without getting shot–I know I can’t. I was in the middle of a 50-city tour when the tweet happened. It was canceled in 24 hours.”
Shortly after the photo came out, Griffin was fired from CNN where she co-hosted the New Year’s Eve celebration on the network with Anderson Cooper. She also lost her gig as the spokesperson for Squatty Potty.
