Update: Kathy Griffin’s Gory Fallout

Multiple venues have pulled out of shows with Kathy Griffin following the backlash over her gruesome President Trump-themed photoshoot, with one performing arts theatre saying it had received threats.

“We do not condone the recent photos published by Ms. Griffin,” Julie Baker, executive director of Veterans Memorial Hall in Grass Valley, Calif., said in a statement issued May 31. “It was our intention to bring a comedy show to Grass Valley. We bring a wide variety of arts and entertainment to our community and we booked Kathy Griffin’s Celebrity Run-Ins because we felt now more than ever we needed a good laugh. Unfortunately, due to recent actions for which she has publicly apologized, we have received hundreds of angry and threatening emails and phone calls including threats to the Vets Hall building and our community. While we support Ms. Griffin’s public apology we cannot in good faith put our patrons, staff, volunteers, or the artist at risk. We wholeheartedly support free speech but in light of this situation, our first priority must be public safety and we feel it is in the best interest of our community of which we serve, to cancel this event. Thank you for your continued support and understanding.”

Refunds for the June 16 show are being issued automatically back to ticketholders by the end of the business day June 2. A post on the venue’s Facebook page notes, “Please do not contact the box office unless you wish to donate your tickets back to The Center to help offset costs.”

Griffin’s performances at Route 66 Casino in Albuquerque, N.M., July 22 and the Sunset Center in Carmel, Calif., Oct. 13 have also been canceled.

Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP, file – Kathy Griffin
41st annual Daytime Emmy Awards at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, Calif.

In a tweet that has since been deleted, Griffin reportedly said she did not “condone ANY violence by my fans or others to anyone” but defended the image that showed her holding a bloody likeness of Trump’s decapitated head, as “merely mocking the Mocker in Chief.” The photograph was taken by photographer Tyler Shields.

Later that day she issued an apology in a video posted on her social media channels. 

“Hey everybody, it’s me, Kathy Griffin. I sincerely apologize. I’m just now seeing the reaction of these images. I’m a comic. I cross the line. I move the line. Then I cross it. I went way too far. The image is too disturbing. I understand how it offends people. It wasn’t funny. I get it. I’ve made a lot of mistakes in my career. I will continue. I’ve asked your forgiveness. I’m taking down the image. I’m going to ask the photographer to take down the image and I beg for your forgiveness. I went too far. I made a mistake and I was wrong.”

Griffin’s longstanding job co-hosting CNN’s New Year’s Eve show with Anderson Cooper has come to an end. The network issued a statement May 31 saying it had terminated its agreement with Griffin. She had co-hosted the show since 2007.  

The comedian also lost her ad campaign with Squatty Potty, which sells toilet stools “designed to put you in the natural squatting position right over your own toilet.”

Trump responded to the gory photo in a tweet, saying, “Kathy Griffin should be ashamed of herself. My children, especially my 11 year old son, Barron, are having a hard time with this. Sick!”

Of course, this isn’t the first time an artist has gotten flak for their behavior regarding the president.

Over the years Ted Nugent has made multiple derogatory statements against President Obama. During a 2012 NRA convention the rocker told the crowd, “If Barack Obama becomes the president in November, again, I will be either be dead or in jail by this time next year,” according to the Atlantic.

Five years before that he offered these thoughts to fans during one of his concerts, while holding two machine guns and wearing camouflage hunting gear:  “Obama, he’s a piece of shit. I told him to suck on my machine gun. Hey Hillary, You might want to ride one of these into the sunset, you worthless bitch,” according to Rolling Stone.

Those remarks apparently didn’t damage Nugent’s career too badly. He and Kid Rock visited Trump at the White House in April as a guest of Sarah Palin.