It seems like Michelle Wolf’s unapologetic performance at White House Correspondents’ Association dinner on Saturday had quite the impact on Kathy Griffin — especially the backlash over the comic’s routine.
On Monday, Griffin publicly retracted her apology to President Donald Trump almost a year after she posed with a fake severed head that bore his likeness and was roundly chastised for it.
“By the way, I’m taking the apology back,” the comedian said on “The View.” She then uttered a short phrase that the program bleeped out; the Mediaite outlet reported that she said, “Fuck him.”
The 57-year-old extended her withdrawal to Don Jr. and Eric Trump as well, referring to the president’s two sons as “Eddie Munster and date rape,” respectively.
“Look, I’m not holding back on this family,” she said. “This president is different and I have been through the mill and so now I’m back on the road.”
Griffin said she regretted saying she was sorry to Trump because it just made her “part of the Trump wood chipper, which Michelle Wolf is in now.”
She said all she intended to do with her controversial photo ― which, among other repercussions, caused CNN to drop her as co-host of its New Year’s Eve show ― was to “make a statement about what a misogynist” the president is.
Griffin, who attended the correspondents’ dinner, wrote a lengthy Twitter thread on Sunday that pointed out the hypocrisy of the criticism Wolf has received, especially from journalists.
“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?” she wrote.
Griffin had used an appearance on an Australian TV talk show last August to previously say she was sorry for saying sorry.
During Griffin’s “View” appearance, she was asked if she felt that her photo shoot with Trump’s bloody head in May 2017 went “too far.”
“No, not now. Not when I see his policies,” Griffin replied.
“But now you’ve taken the apology back aren’t you frightened they’re going to go after you again now?” co-host Joy Behar asked. “Why do you do that to yourself?”
“It’s important,” Griffin said. “The First Amendment is the First Amendment for a reason. It’s the first one. And also, I mean the thing is, this guy just is different.”