Disclaimer: The gory photograph depicting a decapitation is shown later in this piece in its uncensored format. Those who may be disturbed by the image should scroll past it quickly or not read this article.
Kathy Griffin shamelessly shot herself back into mainstream relevance last week by posing in a picture with Donald Trump’s bloodied severed head—stirring a wave of controversy—ultimately losing her job at CNN the next day.
There has been outrage from all sides, with free-speech supporters and comedians defending her actions as political satire; the other side asserting that her depiction of a current president’s gruesome murder is worthy of criminal charges. The FBI is currently investigating the matter.
The million-dollar question, the most important question for a comedian is: was it funny?
No. Not at all.
Almost all jokes have two components: a setup and a punchline. I submit to you that neither are present in Kathy Griffin’s photograph. Where’s the exaggeration? What’s the context behind the photo? All you see is Trump’s realistically gory head being held up by a woman with no goofy expression or cue that a joke is to come. She just stares at you like a psychopath. No emotion. Nothing. Would one even dare to insult comedy itself by calling her expression deadpan? The fake decapitation is indistinguishable from an ISIS beheading, and I suspect it was made for the same reason.
Look at this photo. I challenge you to find humor in it.
Comedians sometimes use humor as a shield from any criticism of their unfunny jokes. It’s paradoxical, because comedy is an art form that predicates itself on immediate evaluation roughly every 10-15 seconds—people either laugh or they don’t. Criticism is in the essential fabric of comedy.
Comedians safeguarding their jokes, which are, in a way, tiny bits of themselves, is understandable. The rejection caused by knowing an audience thinks your jokes are unfunny is painful on a personal level, but there’s a difference between that and comedians who use humor as a veneer to get a free pass for spewing hatred that under any other context would be rightfully condemned. They are cowards; they don’t deserve respect - Kathy Griffin is one of those comedians.
Kathy Griffin has the right to make whatever pictures she wants to, but she will be criticized for it. She had the audacity to play the victim in her press conference, asserting that the First Family was “bullying her,” yet she was the one who posted a picture of herself presumably beheading Trump herself and displaying the detached organ forward like a morbid trophy. She said in the press conference that, “He picked the wrong redhead…I’m going to make fun of him more now.” A bit threatening, no?
Look, it’s no secret Kathy Griffin is a leftist, and she, in her own self-aggrandizing delusional world, felt that displaying her deep hatred towards Trump in a visceral manner was acceptable because others feel the same way. She expected validation for it, but, instead, she was sharply rebuked by not just Trump loyalists, but by people like myself who appreciate good comedy.
It wasn’t funny; it was low-rent trash, and she’s low-rent trash, too.
Don’t believe me? If you can endure even five minutes of one of her nauseating Bravo “comedy” specials, it doesn’t take long to piece together the unfunny, unoriginal, crass and cringeworthy character she vomits up on a stage—art imitating life, no doubt.
