Some journalists are calling for CNN to drop comedian Kathy Griffin from its infamous New Year’s Eve special alongside Anderson Cooper in which she does everything she can to embarrass him and elicit his well-known giggle.
Has the comedian finally gone too far?
Griffin posed with a fake President Trump head. She dangled the bloody thing in her hand.
“Hey @andersoncooper and @CNN – why do you associate with a person who wants to behead Trump?” asked Fox News host Todd Starnes.
CNN’s Jake Tapper warned viewers with small children before showing the bloody image.
“It’s pretty disgusting,” he said on “The Lead” Tuesday. “I can’t imagine how anybody would think that’s appropriate.”
Tapper seemed embarrassed to say that Griffin “does work for CNN on New Year’s Eve.”
The Mirror sought comment from CNN PR.
In the meantime, reporters unleashed a torrent of reaction on Twitter.
The Hill‘s media writer Joe Concha is angry and waiting on CNN management to respond.
“If you’re CNN, you announce immediately that Kathy Griffin will no longer be hosting your New Year’s Eve special right now w/o hesitation,” he wrote. “It’s not CNN. She just does an annual special, but a message has to be sent now that this cannot be tolerated. On the whole Kathy Griffin photo, please don’t let the narrative become ‘Trump supporters are outraged’ — this can’t be a partisan thing.”
Even DailyWire‘s Editor-in-Chief Ben Shapiro, who can’t stand Trump, challenged the left to condemn Griffin’s butchery. “Leftists, tell me again about Trump’s violent language ushering in an era of violence,” he wrote.
HuffPost, the left-wing news outlet, wrote about the the blood and gore like it is just a creative day in a comedian’s life.
HuffPost‘s Cole Delbyck called it a “controversial” photo shoot. He wrote, “We think it’s safe to say Griffin won’t be apologizing anytime soon.”
Other journalists held off finding out what Griffin did as long as possible.
“I don’t know what Kathy Griffin did and I’m going to wait a few more precious minutes before finding out,” The Atlantic‘s Rosie Gray wrote.
Gray’s colleague, McKay Coppins, who Trump has called a “scumbag,” wasn’t on board with Griffin’s charade. “I overheard you guys talking about this so I Googled Kathy Griffin,” he wrote. “What was I thinking?”
The Atlantic‘s Editor-in-Chief Jeffrey Goldberg wants to make the whole thing go away and not cover it. “No promises, but I’m hoping to keep @TheAtlantic free of news about both Chuck Woolery and Kathy Griffin,” he wrote. (The right-wing Woolery is the former host of Love Connection. He also pushes Australian Dream lotion in commercials.)
Conservative media analyst Mark Dice took a quick stab at CNN: “Of course CNN will probably keep Kathy Griffin on the payroll for their annual New Years Eve coverage, cuz they want Trump dead too. Sad.”
Drudge found the whole thing “not funny.”
TheBlaze‘s Tré Goins-Phillips expressed disgust. “For those who are—for some unknown reason—uncertain about @KathyGriffin, this should clear things up. Despicable.”
NRA TV’s Cameron Gray lashed out at Griffin, writing, “Seriously? Get help, @KathyGriffin, A LOT of help.”
New York Mag‘s Yashar Ali kept his opinions out, but wrote, “Just spoke with Kathy Griffin. She said, unapologetically, that the image of her that’s gone viral is an expression of art.”
World Net Daily unfairly and preposterously blamed the whole thing on the “lefty” media. “The political left has lost any marbles it still had,” the right-wing site tweed.
Breitbart News directed its angst to Griffin and remarked, “You seem well-adjusted.”
VICE‘s staff politics writer Eve Peyser is already over it.
“I’m already exhausted by the amount of disingenuous moral outrage this will drum up,” she wrote.
Some journalists are outraged by the double standard but weren’t affected by an image of the president being decapitated.
“I won’t pretend to be outraged by the Kathy Griffin thing, but I will continue to be outraged by the blatant double standard it represents,” Washington Free Beacon‘s Alexander Griswold wrote.
Fox News national correspondent Bryan Lienas took a rather understated approach to Griffin’s stunt.
“Too far?” he asked. “Comedian Kathy Griffin poses in shocking photo with beheaded President.”
Lefty sites such as ThinkProgress, BuzzFeed and Media Matters had no report on Griffin’s violent artwork as of this writing.
So far the White House Press Office has no formal response.
But suffice it to say they’re not pleased.
“White House press staff aware of (and disgusted by) Kathy Griffin photo – no response yet,” wrote Breitbart News White House correspondent Charlie Spiering.
Just in case you haven’t seen it, here it is:
