Kathy Griffin addresses old photo of her and Trump appearing to be friendly
Comedian Kathy Griffin clarified that an old image of herself and President Donald Trump sitting amicably next to each other at an event was, in fact, "not an AI photo."
At the start of a video posted to her YouTube channel Tuesday, Griffin claimed that several people had been sending her a picture of herself with Trump, whom she described as "someone I used to know, but now I don’t care to know any longer."
Griffin confirmed that the photo was real, adding that she previously had a friendly relationship with Trump.
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"I know, can you f---ing believe it?" Griffin exclaimed. "There was a time I knew Donald as someone who would show up at the opening of an envelope, and I would sit next to him sometimes, and he’d laugh at my jokes. I’m not glorifying him in his last, final days in any way. I want to show you that is not an AI photo, and that's why I got the dress out, which I still fit into by the way because that picture's got to be 20 years old."
Despite her frequent attacks against Trump, Griffin admitted that she loved one of the images of her, Trump and financial TV personality Suze Orman.
"It captures the 2000s so much, where I would just run into Donald quite often at events, and he was ever-present," Griffin said.
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She added, "I just wanted you to know that I’m aware there are many pictures of me with Donald on the internet, and MAGA people love to post them and act like I’m a phony when I acted like I jokingly, Perseus-style, wanted to decapitate him in a photo that's been memorialized over and over again which I stand by because it was satire."
Fox News Digital reached out to the White House for comment.
In 2017, Griffin drew bipartisan backlash after posting an image of herself holding a Halloween mask covered in ketchup that appeared to resemble the severed head of Trump. In addition to facing condemnation, Griffin was investigated by the Secret Service over whether the image constituted a threat against the president.
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Though she initially apologized for the image, Griffin has since retracted the apology, recently claiming that she was "proud" of posting it.
"People still define me by it. Now, I really own it, and I absolutely lean into it, because I was right, and I was ahead of my time," Griffin said in an interview.
"And so, when I look at that picture now, I'm very proud of it," she continued.