Kathy Griffin is bitchy, gossipy, name dropping funny. Wildly successful, hangs out with amazing folks.
She was well aware of Don Trump for years and had been critical of his business practices. Then she posted a poorly conceived joke about him and all hell broke loose. Blackballed, fired from CNN, cancelled engagements, and under investigation from the DOJ for conspiracy to assassinate the President of the United States – a charge that potentially carries a life sentence. Add to this opioid addiction, suicide attempt and recent lung cancer and you have the making of a Lifetime movie. Through it all she remained resilient and optimistic.
I knew from the moment the controversy started she would be targeted by Trump and company but the way her so called friends reacted revealed how shallow those alliances were. All, this reaction was shockingly out of proportion to the crime of satire.
Yes, satire. Normally, in the realm of politics and culture Kathy Griffin hardly gets noticed. She's viewed as smart ass comedian with minor success. That makes her the perfect target for an attack on free speech, someone not particularly influential or threatening.
Turns out, it's a bad idea to oppose the Don, people discovered and she had very blunt opinions about him. Also, since the Joe Palmer/ Scooter Libby scandal, the government has been trying to erode freedom of speech and it seized on the opportunity to go after her with the tacit assistance of the very media that claims to defend civil rights.
Targeting the court jesters is a dangerous sign of oppression. Free speech is about expressing unpopular ideas, pointing out hypocrisy and phoniness. The Emperor has no clothes but the kid saying so will get the shit kicked out of him.
Now that the Don is no longer in power, people are coming out of hiding to offer her sympathy-- a weak attempt at apology-- for all the tribulations she has gone through. She survived a hell of a ride and she deserves praise for her perserverance despite the mass cancellation she incurred by those too timid to call out the naked emperor and his false followers.
"My little story is historic," she said in a CBS News story in 2019. "Whether you like it or not, it's the first time a sitting United States president has used the full power of the Oval Office, the first family, the right-wing media and, more importantly, two departments within the Department of Justice to open an investigation on a private citizen who did nothing wrong. Didn't violate the First Amendment, didn't break the law. "
The joke was a mistake but the mistaken reaction put the right to speak our mind at further risk.
Kathy Griffin, free speech, Don ald Trump, CNN, DOJ
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