If Rosie Would've Called, I Would've Jumped | Why I'm Not a Guest on Rosie's Week at Kimmel

Kathy Griffin
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About this episode Kathy Griffin discusses her emotional reaction to being excluded from Rosie O'Donnell's week-long guest hostin… AI summary

Kathy Griffin discusses her emotional reaction to being excluded from Rosie O'Donnell's week-long guest hosting stint on Jimmy Kimmel Live, citing a recent podcast where Rosie expressed disapproval of Griffin's 2017 Trump photo controversy. Griffin highlights the pain of this exclusion given her history of supporting Rosie and their close friendship, while also addressing broader industry misogyny and the challenges female comedians face.

Key takeaways 4
  • Griffin was explicitly told by industry sources that she was 'not invited' (given the 'kaibos') to appear on Kimmel during Rosie's guest week, a decision attributed to the show's staff rather than ABC or Kimmel himself.
  • The exclusion stems from a recent podcast clip where Rosie O'Donnell stated she didn't agree with Griffin's choice to create the decapitated Trump mask photo and questioned why Griffin did it, which Griffin found hurtful after nine years.
  • Griffin emphasizes the gender dynamics in comedy, noting that misogyny is still prevalent and that female comedians often face severe professional consequences for political statements, unlike their male counterparts.
  • Despite the hurt, Griffin maintains respect for Rosie as a 'groundbreaker' and gay icon, highlighting their long history of mutual support, including Griffin offering Rosie a private jet ride and Rosie previously predicting Griffin's success.
Notable quotes 3 AI-generated: wording and quote attribution may be wrong. Use the play link to verify.
  • “I don't think she was ready for the kind of uh torment that he put her through for so many years and I think she did suffer a lot and uh went through some very dark times. So when I heard about that, I was just surprised and I didn't call her because I didn't want to call her when I was flustered and I wanted to get my thoughts together. The conclusion that I came to and that I still have was I don't know why she did that. I would never have done that to her in a million years.”
    ▶ 6:39 Rosie O'Donnell's comments from a podcast regarding Kathy Griffin's 2017 controversy, which Griffin cites as the root of the current rift.
  • “In my own community of Hollywood of standup comedy where you're supposed to be edgy, you're supposed to make political statements as well as be funny. In my opinion, that's what the greats do. It did not go that way for me initially.”
    ▶ 3:44 Griffin reflecting on the lack of support from her peers in the comedy community after her 2017 controversy.
  • “I offered her a ride on my jet... Rosie said, 'You know, my kid Clay has a hard time in airports and so I said, well, I have two seats left on the jet. do you want to fly back to LA, you know, with me? And so we did that and then I got to talk to her the whole flight... And she told me about being asked by the Kimmel Show to do a whole week... one of the first things I said was, 'Well, I this doesn't need to be said, but I would love to be a guest.'”
    ▶ 10:16 Griffin describing a recent interaction with Rosie where she offered hospitality and expressed desire to be part of the Kimmel show event.

Chapters & Sections (8)

0:06 Hurt by Rosie's Podcast Comments chapter 2
2:27 Hollywood's Political Silence After Trump
4:45 Evolution to Political Commentary
7:21 Friendship Dynamics and Comedy Industry Misogyny chapter 1
9:46 Private Jet Ride and Kimmel Week Discussion
12:57 Exclusion from Rosie's Kimmel Guest Spot chapter 2
14:29 Industry Exclusion and Kimmel Friendship
18:00 History of Friendship with Rosie O'Donnell

Transcript

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