Arts & Entertainment
Kathy Griffin: ‘Trump is trying to ruin my life’ following photo scandal
the comedian believes she is being attacked because she is a woman
(Screenshot via YouTube.)
Kathy Griffin broke down into tears during a press conference on Friday morning as she apologized for participating in a controversial photo shoot and slammed the Trump family for attacking her.
Victim rights attorney Lisa Bloom appeared with Griffin to say the backlash Griffin received for the photo shoot has been extreme.
“As a result of the first family bullying her, she has been vilified, getting death threats, fired from multiple jobs and had multiple events canceled,” Bloom says.
The photo shoot, which featured Griffin holding up a bloody replica of Trump’s decapitated head, has gotten her fired from co-hosting CNN’s New Year’s Eve special and lost her an ad campaign deal with Squatty Potty. Five of Griffin’s comedy shows have also been canceled.
“I don’t think I will have a career after this,” Griffin said as she broke down into tears. “I’m going to be honest. He broke me. He broke me. He broke me. And then I was like, this isn’t right. And I apologized because that was the right thing to do and I meant it and then I saw the tide turning and it was a mob pile-on.”
Griffin reiterated her apology from the video she posted to Twitter on Tuesday and says she didn’t mean to offend anyone.
“That apology absolutely stands,” Griffin says. “I feel horrible. I have performed in war zones. The idea that this made people think of that tragedy is horrible. If I could redo the whole thing I’d have a blowup doll and no ketchup.”
She accused Trump of “trying to ruin her life forever” after Trump, his son Trump Jr. and First Lady Melania Trump expressed their outrage of the image on Twitter and to the media.
“The sitting president of the United States and his grown children and the first lady are personally trying to ruin my life forever. Forever. You guys know him — he’s never gonna stop,” Griffin says.
Griffin believes the attacks are “a woman thing” and that she is being used as a distraction from the FBI’s investigation into Trump’s connection with Russia.
“It’s quite clear they’re trying to use me as a distraction and I’m not going to be collateral damage for this fool,” Griffin says. “I’m the easiest target. I’m D-list comedian Kathy Griffin.”
Griffin has received support from fellow comedians Jim Carrey and Jamie Foxx. Carey told Entertainment Tonight it’s a comedian’s job to break boundaries.
“I think it is the job of a comedian to cross the line at all times, because that line is not real,” Carrey says. “If you step out into that spotlight and you’re doing the crazy things that [Trump] is doing, we’re the last line of defense. And really, comedians are the last voice of truth in this whole thing.”
Foxx says he acknowledges Griffin went too far but still stands by her.
“I still love Kathy Griffin,” Foxx told Entertainment Tonight. “She went past the line, she’ll pay for it in the way she pays for it, and we’ll go out and we’ll laugh with her again. Don’t kill the comedian. There’s a lot of people out here doing really bad things and every time a comedian says anything, says something about peanuts, [people say], ‘You’re peanut-shaming!’ [A comedian] says something about dolphins [people say], ‘Oh my god, you’re a dolphin-shamer.’ We’re the comics, we’re entertainers, we don’t mean any harm.”
WorldPride 2025 concluded with the WorldPride Street Festival and Closing Concert held along Pennsylvania Ave., N.W. on Sunday, June 8. Performers on the main stage included Doechii, Khalid, Courtney Act, Parker Matthews, 2AM Ricky, Suzie Toot, MkX and Brooke Eden.
(Washington Blade photos by Michael Key)
The 2025 WorldPride Parade was held in Washington, D.C. on Saturday, June 7. Laverne Cox and Renée Rapp were the grand marshals.
(Washington Blade photos by Michael Key and Robert Rapanut)
Theater
A hilarious ‘Twelfth Night’ at Folger full of ‘elegant kink’
Nonbinary actor Alyssa Keegan stars as Duke Orsino
‘Twelfth Night’
Through June 22
Folger Theatre
201 East Capitol St., S.E.
$20-$84
Folger.edu
Nonbinary actor Alyssa Keegan (they/them)loves tapping into the multitudes within.
Currently Keegan plays the melancholic Duke Orsino in Folger Theatre’s production of Shakespeare’s romantic comedy “Twelfth Night.” Director Mei Ann Teo describes the production as “sexy, hilarious, and devastating” and full of “elegant kink.”
Washington-based, Keegan enjoys a busy and celebrated career. Her vast biography includes Come From Away at Ford’s Theatre; Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (Helen Hayes Award, Best Actress) and Paula Vogel’s How I Learned to Drive, both at Round House Theatre; Diana Son’s Stop Kiss directedby Holly Twyford for No Rules Theatre Company; and Contractions at Studio Theatre, to name just a few.
In addition to acting, Keegan works as a polyamory and ethical non-monogamy life and relationship coach, an area of interest that grew out of personal exploration. For them, coaching seems to work hand in hand with acting.
WASHINGTON BLADE: You’re playing the lovesick Orsino in Twelfth Night. How did that come about?
ALYSSA KEEGAN: The director was looking to cast a group of actors with diverse identities; throughout auditions, there were no constraints regarding anyone’s assigned sex at birth. It was really a free for all.
BLADE: What’s your approach to the fetching, cod-piece clad nobleman?
KEEGAN: Offstage I identify as completely nonbinary; I love riding in this neutral middle space. But I also love cosplay. The ability to do that in the play gives me permission to dive completely into maleness.
So, when I made that decision to play Orsino as a bio male, suddenly the part really cracked open for me. I began looking for clues about his thoughts and opinions about things like his past relationships and his decision not to date older women.
Underneath his mask of bravura and sexuality, and his firmness of feelings, he’s quite lonely and has never really felt loved. It makes sense to me why his love for Olivia is so misguided and why he might fall in love with the Cesario/Viola character.
BLADE: As an actor, do you ever risk taking on the feelings of your characters?
KEEGAN: Prior to my mental health education, yes, and that could be toxic for me. I’ve since learned that the nervous system can’t tell the difference between real emotional distress and a that of a fully embodied character.
So, I created and share the Empowered Performer Project. [a holistic approach to performance that emphasizes the mental and emotional well-being of performing artists]. It utilizes somatic tools that help enormously when stepping into a character.
BLADE: Has changing the way you work affected your performances?
KEEGAN: I think I’m much better now. I used to have nearly debilitating stage fright. I’d spend all day dreading going onstage. I thought that was just part of the job. Now, I’ve learned to talk to my body. Prior to a performance, I can now spend my offstage time calmly gardening, working with my mental health clients, or playing with my kid. I’m just present in my life in a different way.
BLADE: Is Orsino your first time playing a male role?
KEEGAN: No. In fact, the very first time I played a male role was at the American Shakespeare Center in Staunton, Va. I played Hipolito in Thomas Middleton’s The Revenger’s Tragedy.
As Hipolito, I felt utterly male in the moment, so much so that I had audience members see me later after the show and they were surprised that I was female. They thought I was a young guy in the role. There’s something very powerful in that.
BLADE: Do you have a favorite part? Male or female?
KEEGAN: That’s tough but I think it’s Maggie the Cat. I played the hyper-female Maggie in Tennessee Williams’ Cat on a Hot Tin Roof at Round House. In the first act she didn’t stop talking for 51 minutes opposite Gregory Wooddell as Brick who barely had to speak. That lift was probably the heaviest I’ve ever been asked to do in acting.
BLADE: What about Folger’s Twelfth Night might be especially appealing to queer audiences?
KEEGAN: First and foremost is presentation. 99% of the cast identify as queer in some way.
The approach to Shakespeare’s text is one of the most bold and playful that I have ever seen. It’s unabashedly queer. The actors are here to celebrate and be loud and colorful and to advocate. It’s a powerful production, especially to do so close to the Capitol building, and that’s not lost on any of us.
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A hilarious ‘Twelfth Night’ at Folger full of ‘elegant kink’
