Disgraced comedian Kathy Griffin appeared on “The View” Monday and took back her apology for the graphic photos she posted of herself holding a depiction of Trump’s severed head. She also defended comedian Michelle Wolf who is facing criticism for her jokes about White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders’s looks at the White House Correspondents' Dinner.
“Yeah, I take the apology back. F**k him,” Griffin said.
“Look, I’m not holding back on this family,” she emphasized. “This president is different and I have been through the mill and so now I’m back on the road.”
Griffin explained some of her reasons for apologizing at the time, saying “with my connection with the military I thought of literally Daniel Pearl’s mother and so I thought, OK, obviously not very many people literally witnessed that horrendous event but when I thought of her I thought, OK, apologize.”
However, she claims apologizing made her a victim of the Trump “apparatus” and she regrets it for Michelle Wolf’s sake.
“I found out that I was really just kind of part of the Trump wood chipper which Michelle Wolf is in now,” she said. “You know, I didn’t know they had this apparatus already set up before my silly picture of a $5 halloween mask and ketchup and wanted to make a statement about what a misogynist he is.”
“But now you’ve taken the apology back aren’t you frightened they’re going to go after you again now?” Joy Behar asked Griffin. “Why do you do that to yourself?”
“It’s important,” Griffin said. “The First Amendment is the First Amendment for a reason. It’s the first one. And also, I mean the thing is this guy just is different.”
Griffin referenced the Bill Clinton presidency, saying that was when a comedian “could make fun of that Monica [Lewinsky] dress all day long and nobody thought you were a terrorist.”
When asked if she thought she went too far, Griffin said "no, not now, not when I see his policies."
She also took to Twitter Sunday to defend Michelle Wolf, calling the controversial set “great.”
A) Ok I have some thoughts on @michelleisawolf's act and the reaction to it from members of the press and other DC insiders. For the record, I was in the room last night. @michelleisawolf's set was great. She was hilarious and confident.
— Kathy Griffin (@kathygriffin) April 29, 2018
C) @michelleisawolf was hired to do a roast. That was her job. She wasn't hired to offer media analysis or be fair and balanced. She was hired to poke fun at powerful people. Not once did she punch down. She focused on the people/institutions that are powerful beyond measure
— Kathy Griffin (@kathygriffin) April 29, 2018
E) Comics by their nature are anti-establishment. They are charged with the often unenviable task of going after people in power. It's a lot easier to tell jokes about the difference between LA and NYC or cats and dogs.
— Kathy Griffin (@kathygriffin) April 29, 2018
G) Is that journalists often say they can't use certain language about Trump because they have to be objective. Fine. But they're willing to use words like "mean" about a comic's act? How is it objective to offer subjective commentary about a comic's joke's about POTUS?
— Kathy Griffin (@kathygriffin) April 29, 2018
I) The calls for the @whca and @michelleisawolf to apologize are absurd. They're coming from reporters and many Trumpers. Trump has famously (and he says this himself) never truly apologized because he thinks it makes him look weak.
— Kathy Griffin (@kathygriffin) April 29, 2018
K) Andrea, it was nice to meet you last night and I respect your work as a journalist, but when's the last time you demanded Trump or WH staffers apologize for their horrific statements? When's the last time you demanded Trump apologize for being a birther?https://t.co/tn9HkDOOq9
— Kathy Griffin (@kathygriffin) April 29, 2018
M) I'll tell you what has the media so upset, because @michelleisawolf told the truth about them last night and the role they played in allowing Trump's rise. They hate to be called out on their bullshit, it's painful..I get it. But she said what needed to be said.
— Kathy Griffin (@kathygriffin) April 29, 2018
O) This administration (and the reporters who intentionally or indirectly support it) are always demanding that artists apologize. From the Hamilton Cast to me to @michelleisawolf. But they never apologize for anything.
— Kathy Griffin (@kathygriffin) April 29, 2018
Q) Not to mention, apologize for comments like "blood coming out of her..." - but no they haven't demanded that of him because they're terrified of Trump. Instead, they go after a comic who is paid to make jokes. They go after her instead of a man with real power. Pathetic.
— Kathy Griffin (@kathygriffin) April 29, 2018
S) Stop acting like @michelleisawolf showed up at the playground and started making fun of Sarah Sanders in front of her children. Sarah was there representing Trump, on the dais, at an event with a professional comic who was hired to do a roast.
— Kathy Griffin (@kathygriffin) April 29, 2018
U) What people are forgetting is how many people/institutions she hit in her act. In fact, while all these reporters are preaching about their objectivity, Michelle was in many ways more objective than them. She went after MSNBC, the liberal media and their Russia obsession..
— Kathy Griffin (@kathygriffin) April 30, 2018
W. @michelleisawolf did what a good roast master does...she spread the roast around..everyone got hit. That's the way you do it, so people can walk away not feeling like they were targeted, but that the roast master took down the whole room.
— Kathy Griffin (@kathygriffin) April 30, 2018
Y. I really hope the @whca doesn't stop having comics at the dinner to serve as roast master. It's one of the few occasions the most powerful people in the world (including the President) are held accountable via comedy. It's an important tradition. It's an important message.
— Kathy Griffin (@kathygriffin) April 30, 2018
Z. Just imagine when people around the world see the @WHCA dinner and see a comic making fun of the President...isn't that what we used to be about? Offering hope? Setting an example?
— Kathy Griffin (@kathygriffin) April 30, 2018