Legendary comedian claims MAGA's 'obsession' made her life hell: 'You'd be amazed'

Comedian Kathy Griffin says MAGA supporters are still fixated on her almost ten years after a controversial photo of her with a Trump mask, and that the midterms are reviving the hostility, in conversation with The Daily Beast’s “Obsessed: The Podcast.”

Griffin, 65, who is touring with her stand-up show “New Face, New Tour,” says the attention never really faded.

“You would be amazed at how many MAGA people are still obsessed with me,” Griffin said.

The controversy started in May 2017 with a leaked image of Griffin holding a ketchup-covered Trump mask meant to look like his severed head. Trump responded online that she should be ashamed and said the photo was hurting his young son.

Griffin says the consequences were severe. By her account, she faced enormous numbers of death threats, repeated visits from the FBI, a spot on the no-fly list, and a Justice Department probe. She says her mother thought she’d joined a terrorist group, and that she was later diagnosed with complex PTSD and panic attacks. She also says she was told Trump, Jared Kushner, Donald Trump Jr. and Dan Scavino held meetings about how to wreck her career, and that she couldn’t work for seven years.

Her U.S. comedy career picked back up in 2023 in Las Vegas, and she says ticket sales were far better than she’d expected. She says she’d cleared the photo with lawyers before posting it.

Now, Griffin says, the midterms are stirring up fresh animosity, and she needs heavy security everywhere she goes because the election reminds MAGA fans of the photo. She says attitudes toward the image have shifted, and that California Gov. Gavin Newsom told her releasing it now would make her a hero.

She says she doesn’t expect to work in TV or film again and left one law firm over what she calls its deference to Trump.

“I’m all in on this resistance thing,” Griffin said.