Comedian Kathy Griffin elicited ridicule and trended on Twitter after she posted a video of her apparently topless and shimmying at a beach.
“HEY BOYZZZZ,” Griffin posted on Wednesday along with a video of herself, taken from behind, showing her baring her chest and dancing while looking out over a body of water.
HEY BOYZZZZ pic.twitter.com/e2IPYIHJxt
— Kathy Griffin (@kathygriffin) October 20, 2021
The video caused her to trend on Twitter as social media users mocked the 60-year-old comedian. “A video posted by comedian Kathy Griffin is drawing comparisons to fellow comedian Scott Thompson, who performs under the name Carrot Top, due to their similar hairstyles,” Twitter captioned the trend.
Griffin responded to the trend the next day, blaming “magas” for the online mockery.
“Going viral? Look, compared to another video that went viral 4 years ago, this is nuthin but fun!” Griffin said. “The magas always think it’s this big insult to call me Carrot Top. I love Carrot Top (Scott Thompson) and his audiences adore him and have for decades.”
Comedian Chrissie Mayr, who is also a redhead, posted on Twitter, “Pls stop tagging me in this. My people have suffered enough.”
Another comedian, Josh Denny, came to the defense of Scott Thompson over the comparisons. “Stop comparing this to Carrot Top, everyone. Scott hasn’t been this flabby in decades,” Denny said, adding, “and yes, I know how fat I am.”
“Is this reverse conversion therapy?” commentator Derek Hunter joked.
“I didnt realize cancer was contagious but she just gave it to me with this tweet,” podcaster Michael Malice said.
Elijah Schaffer, a host at The Blaze, captioned the video, “How to make a straight man turn gay in 3…2…1.”
Griffin, known for her vulgar stunts, received widespread criticism in 2017 when she posed holding a bloody replica of then-President Donald Trump’s severed head. After initially apologizing for the display, she has since repeatedly stood by it, posting the photo to her Twitter account as recently as November of 2020 on the night of the presidential election.
When Griffin first posted the photo in May of 2017, the backlash against her was so severe that she later apologized for the display and said she “went too far.” As The Daily Wire reported:
At the end of May 2017, she apologized, writing on Twitter, “I am sorry. I went too far. I was wrong.”
At the beginning of June 2017, Dmitry Gorin, a criminal defense attorney representing Griffin, protested at a news conference with Griffin, “She basically exercised her First Amendment rights to tell a joke. When you look at everything in the media, all the times entertainers make videos or express themselves in other ways, you’ve never seen an entertainer, let alone a comedian, be subject to a criminal investigation.” He confirmed an investigation had been commenced.
Griffin tearfully added, “I don’t think I will have a career after this. I’m going to be honest. He broke me,” but insisted she reserved the right to continue to mock Trump, adding, “I’m not afraid of Donald Trump. He’s a bully. I’ve dealt with older white guys trying to keep me down my whole life, my whole career.”