Kathy Griffin defends Michelle Wolf: She did the job she was hired to do

Comedian and actress Kathy Griffin said on Sunday that comedian Michelle Wolf did the job she was hired to do at Saturday night’s White House Correspondents’ Association dinner.

Griffin, who attended the event, praised Wolf in a string of tweets for a routine that “took no prisoners.”

B) First, @michelleisawolf took no prisoners last night. She roasted Trump, Pence, White House staffers, the media, media personalities. Everyone is focused on Sanders but that was only 1 1/2 minutes of Michelle’s act. She went after everyone…as it should be.

— Kathy Griffin (@kathygriffin) April 29, 2018

Wolf, Griffin said, “was hired to do a roast. That was her job.”

“She wasn’t hired to offer media analysis or be fair and balanced,” Griffin added. “She was hired to poke fun at powerful people.”

For Griffin, a comedian’s job is to “push the line and go over it again” without being safe or careful.

D) A comic’s job is to go over the line and then push the line and go over it again. Great comics aren’t supposed to be safe or careful. That would mean we’re not doing our job. By pushing the line we force people to think differently, to ask questions, and disrupt the status quo

— Kathy Griffin (@kathygriffin) April 29, 2018

Wolf’s routine triggered a wave of controversy for its blunt and provocative nature, leading some White House staffers to walk out of the event early.

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Wolf’s jokes targeting White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders, in particular, drew harsh criticism from politicians and journalists alike.

Griffin said that calls for the White House Correspondents’ Association to apologize to Sanders are “absurd,” especially since President Trump himself has said that he does not apologize for anything.

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

She then took aim at the press for similar calls on Wolf to apologize when, Griffin said, the press is unwilling to call on the Trump administration to apologize for anything.

N) So journalists are willing to demand that a comic hired to roast people apologize but they aren’t willing to demand that Trump or his staff apologize to people? Is that where we’re at now? Can someone explain the difference to me?

— Kathy Griffin (@kathygriffin) April 29, 2018

Griffin also praised Wolf for her performance following Saturday’s dinner.

“As a female, you’ve got to work harder, you’ve got to jump higher. And she did it. She went there — fearlessly,” Griffin said.

Trump skipped the dinner for a second year, choosing instead to attend a rally in Washington, Mich.