Kathy Griffin said that President Trump and his family are “personally trying to ruin my life forever,” in the wake of a controversial photo shoot in which she held up a mask that resembled Trump’s severed head.
Trump and his family members tweeted their upset over the image, and Griffin said that she has been subjected to a constant stream of death threats. Her attorney, Lisa Bloom, suggested that it was an attempt to silence the free speech rights of a comic who makes provocative and critical political humor.
“What’s happening to me has never happened in this great country,” Griffin said.
Her appearance at the Bloom firm was the first since Tuesday, when she issued a video apology for the images that she acknowledged went “too far.”
At the press conference, Griffin said “that apology absolutely stands. I feel horrible.”
She said that she has been contacted by the Secret Service and has retained a criminal attorney, Dmitry Gorin.
Since then, CNN has dropped her from its New Year’s Eve coverage, a decade-long tradition in which she has hosted from Times Square with Anderson Cooper. On Thursday night, Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) said that it would “be better” for her not to appear at a planned July 7 event in Beverly Hills in which they were to hold a conversation about his new book.
The incident has made its way into a political race in Georgia. A GOP Super PAC produced an ad that tries to link Jon Ossoff, a Democratic candidate seeking a congressional seat in a special election, to Griffin. Ossoff’s campaign condemned Griffin and called on his Republican opponent, Karen Handel, to ask that it be pulled.
