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Kathy Griffin is looking back on the scandal that got her cancelled nearly a decade later.
Speaking with Entertainment Weekly in an interview published Wednesday, September 9, the 65-year-old comedian said she’s done the time for her now-infamous photo, which saw her posing while holding a mask made to look like President Donald Trump‘s severed head.
The 2017 post cost her both friendships and Hollywood jobs, but now, Griffin is on the other side, booking comedy gigs and on the road again with her New Face, New Tour show.
“They’re kind of coming around, saying, ‘She paid the price,'” Griffin explained of those who previously gave her the cold shoulder following the viral moment. “Even if they don’t like what I did.”
That includes some of the “Joe Rogan bros” like Adam Carolla, who Griffin said still poke fun at her on stage, but support her in private. And though the scandal and its aftermath proved to be a dark time for the Emmy- and Grammy-winning funny woman, these days, Griffin has found the levity in it.
Eric Kowalsky / MEGA
“I am the unsinkable Kathy Brown. I’m the unsinkable Molly Griffin,” she said of surviving the scandal, referencing the real-life Titanic shipwreck survivor played by Kathy Bates in the 1997 film.
Still, she insists she means no harm towards the 80-year-old president, no matter how much she disagrees with his policies.
“I don’t want to kill the president! I’m not trying to kill the president!” Griffin maintained before taking a crack at the Trump family, joking that despite her insistence, there’s one member who still believes she has it in for the commander in chief.
“Barron [Trump] does,” she quipped. “He’ll send me a note once a month just saying, ‘Don’t kill my daddy.’ But, you know Barron, he’s the sensitive one. What can I do?”
Pool Photo from Consolidated News Photos / MEGA
There’s also a “mutual understanding” now, Griffin said, not only among those who stood by her amid the scandal, but even among those in “outside circles” that her disdain for Trump was warranted.
And even though the incident ended with Griffin on the no-fly list — she was cleared after a federal investigation — she remains determined to use her voice.
“At this point, you could shoot me like I’m 50 Cent, and I’d still do a show that night in Tacoma,” Griffin joked. “I’m not saying I can walk on water — but I haven’t tried it. I might be able to.”