The comedian also says she doesn't understand why people are 'still expecting' her to apologize for her controversial tweet.
Kathy Griffin isn't holding anything back.
In a new interview with The Cut, the 56-year-old comedian gets candid on her controversial President Donald Trump photo scandal and where her friendship with Anderson Cooper stands today.
Back in May, Griffin was promptly fired from CNN after receiving backlash for a controversial photo shoot with photographer Tyler Shields, in which she posed with a bloodied replica of Trump's head. At the time, Cooper -- who currently hosts Anderson Cooper 360 on the network -- tweeted his disapproval of the photo shoot, writing: "For the record, I am appalled by the photo shoot Kathy Griffin took part in. It is clearly disgusting and completely inappropriate."
A few months later, Cooper was a guest on Watch What Happens Live With Live With Andy Cohen. He claimed that despite everything that happened, he and Griffin were still friends. "Yeah, we’re still friends," he said. "And look, I said what I said about -- I didn’t think what she said was appropriate, but I wish her the best and I hope she bounces back."
But according to Griffin, that couldn't be further from the truth.
The Cut reports that Griffin was "hurt deeply" when she discovered Cooper was publicly telling people they were friends before checking in with her first. Griffin tells the outlet that Cooper eventually reached out to her in a a series of text messages, and that's when she told him their friendship was over for good.
Although she was put on blast for taking her opinions on Trump too far with the photo, she tells The Cut that she doesn't think she needs to apologize anymore. On the day of her interview with the outlet, Trump shared a series of controversial tweets regarding the denouncement of Robert Mueller's investigation.
“Why are people still expecting me to apologize and grovel to a man that tweets like this?" she asks. "I’m a comedian; he’s our f**king president."
“President Trump just pardoned Joe Arpaio, who was essentially running a concentration camp in the Arizona desert," she continues. "He said there are some good Nazis, and he’s kicking out young adults who were brought here as kids by their parents, and I’m the one who has to continue to apologize?"
And apparently, she's not backing down.
"Comedians talk about what their audience is faced with every day, we try to relate to our audience," she explains. "I'm obsessed with politics. I always have been, and now, with Trump, many people are obsessed with politics, so that’s going to be a big part of my act."
"I would be abandoning my principles as a comic and a human being if I backed off President Trump or any public person," she adds. "Comics by their nature are anti-Establishment. They are charged with the often unenviable task of going after people in power. I will never abdicate that responsibility."
