Griffin knew actions were wrong

On May 30, comedian Kathy Griffin and photographer Tyler Shields decided they would release a series of pictures with Griffin holding the decapitated head of the president of the United States.

By the end of the day, her co-host on CNN’s New Year’s Eve show, Anderson Cooper, had tweeted, “For the record, I am appalled by the photo shoot Kathy Griffin took part in. It is clearly disgusting and completely inappropriate.”

On Wednesday, CNN fired Griffin. She feels that Cooper betrayed her with his tweet.

Even Chelsea Clinton tweeted, “This is vile and wrong.”

By June 2, Griffin’s career had exploded.

In the face of an overwhelming tide, with companies canceling her endorsement contracts and comedy gigs being canceled, her apology — “I am sorry. I went too far. I was wrong.” — did not help.

The fact that she is heard exclaiming that she and Shields will “probably have to go to Mexico” after this gives the indication they were cognizant of what they were doing.

President Trump tweeted, “My children, especially my 11-year-old son, Barron, are having a hard time with this. Sick!”

At this point, Griffin knew what she had to do and retained attorney Lisa Bloom, a civil rights attorney, who promptly accused Trump and his family of “using their power to target her.”

Griffin added that, “A sitting president of the U.S. ... is personally trying to ruin my life forever."

The CNN story on the Griffin/Bloom press conference also noted that, “Griffin and Bloom believe the comedian has received harsher backlash because she is female.

“This is a woman thing,” Griffin said.

This charge may have some credibility as political analyst John Podhoretz noted that if Stephen Colbert could accuse the president of performing a sex act on Vladimir Putin, why couldn’t Kathy Griffin show a decapitated head of the same president?

Colbert as well as Shields appear to have skated away clean.

Griffin’s lawsuit should be filed against the entertainment media, not the Trump family.

In reviewing the video of the actual studio activity, I can count at least five people in the room. What amazes me is that none of them raised the issue as to whether or not everyone really wanted to do this.

If black boxes, similar to those installed in aircraft, were installed in edgy photography studios you might catch the quote, “Let me snort this one more line and we’ll get these pics out to the public.”

Rube Render is the Curry County Republican chairman. Contact him at:

[email protected]