Kathy Griffin says controversial fake Trump photo cost her one-third of her fans

Kathy Griffin said the controversial photoshoot she did that showed her holding a fake bloody head that resembled former President Trump cost her “about a third” of her fans. 

The Emmy-Award-winning comedian detailed the repercussions she dealt with following the release of the photo in 2017. One repercussion that she shared during her recent appearance on Dan Le Batard’s podcast “South Beach Sessions” was permanently losing a part of her audience. 

“One thing that breaks my heart is why I would say I’ve lost, probably permanently, about a third of my audience because of the Trump thing,” Griffin said during the podcast episode that aired on Friday. 

“I think I’ve gained some audiences that are maybe a little bit more political, maybe a little bit more liberal, but I used to play the South like crazy because they knew me as somebody that would make fun of Hollywood and the Kardashians and celebrities,” she said. 

Griffin received widespread backlash following the release of the photo. She was investigated for conspiracy to murder the commander-in-chief and put on a no-fly list. The same month, she was fired from CNN where she co-hosted New Year’s Eve coverage. 

“I was interrogated under oath,” Griffin said. “They were seriously considering charging me with conspiracy to assassinate the president of the United States. That has never happened in the history of comedy, never.”

She stated being afraid to go outside for a walk, but that now things are different. 

“People come up to me now, they’re much nicer and they go, ‘good for you, you were ahead of your time, I get the pun,’” she said. “But, man, I was afraid to walk down the street.” 

Griffin said earlier this year that she didn’t realize “how serious” the Department of Justice (DOJ) was about charging her after the photo was released. 

“I actually just got a FOIA back, Freedom of Information Act, recently, expressing how serious they were about trying to charge me with the crime of conspiracy to assassinate the president of the United States,” she said in January.