Kathy Griffin Forced to Address Old Image That Surfaces
Comedian Kathy Griffin is pushing back against claims that a widely shared photo showing her sitting alongside Donald Trump was digitally created, confirming that the image is authentic and dates back to a time when the two had a cordial relationship long before becoming political adversaries.
In a video posted to her YouTube channel on Tuesday, Griffin addressed what she said were repeated messages from people sending her the photograph. The image, which has circulated online in recent years, shows Griffin seated next to Trump at a public event during the early 2000s.
According to Griffin, there is nothing artificial about the picture.
“I know, can you f---ing believe it?” Griffin said while discussing the photo. “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.”
Griffin explained that she wanted to verify the image’s authenticity because some social media users had suggested it was generated by artificial intelligence. To emphasize the point, she even displayed the dress she said she was wearing in the photograph, joking that she could still fit into it despite the picture being roughly two decades old.
The comedian noted that encounters with Trump were common during that period, describing him as a constant presence at entertainment and celebrity events. One particular image featuring Griffin, Trump, and financial television personality Suze Orman remains one of her favorites from that era.
“It captures the 2000s so much,” Griffin said. “I would just run into Donald quite often at events, and he was ever-present.”
The discussion also touched on criticism she has received from Trump supporters, who frequently share older photographs of the pair together as evidence that Griffin’s current hostility toward the president is insincere. Griffin rejected that argument, saying the existence of old photographs does not change her views today.
“I just wanted you to know that I’m aware there are many pictures of me with Donald on the internet,” she said, adding that critics often use them to portray her as hypocritical.
Griffin’s relationship with Trump became a national controversy in 2017 when she posted a photograph showing herself holding what appeared to be a bloodied, severed likeness of Trump’s head. The image sparked immediate backlash from across the political spectrum and prompted an investigation by the Secret Service into whether it constituted a threat against the president.
At the time, Griffin issued a public apology, but she has since reversed that position and openly defended the stunt as political satire.
In more recent interviews, Griffin has said she no longer regrets the image and believes it was misunderstood.
“People still define me by it,” she said. “Now, I really own it, and I absolutely lean into it, because I was right, and I was ahead of my time.”
She went even further, stating that she is now “very proud” of the controversial photograph despite the criticism it generated.