Alec Baldwin has come to the defense of Kathy Griffin following the widespread backlash over a photograph in which the comedian was pictured posing with a bloodied, decapitated head meant to resemble that of President Donald Trump.
Writing on his Twitter account Friday, the 59-year-old actor and Saturday Night Live Trump impersonator reminded Griffin of the backlash he experienced after he made fun of then-Republican lawmaker Henry Hyde during a 1998 appearance on Conan O’Brien’s late-night show.
“Dear Kathy Griffin,” Baldwin wrote in a series of five Twitter messages. “Kathy…baby…I’ve been there. The whole Henry Hyde thing w Conan, where we bring out an oxygen mask at the end? A joke. That’s what I thought. That’s what we intended. No one walked out of the studio and said, ‘No! We’re serious!’ No one.”
“Kathy…F*ck them,” Baldwin continued. “F*ck them all. No 1 believes u meant 2 threaten Trump. Trump is such a senile idiot, all he has is Twitter fights.”
The photo of Griffin sparked widespread backlash after its publication by TMZ on Tuesday. The 56-year-old comedian was fired from her role on CNN’s annual New Year’s Eve Live broadcast, which she had co-hosted for ten years, and saw the cancellation of at least five scheduled performances on her cross-country comedy tour.
An emotional Griffin apologized in a press conference Friday morning alongside her attorney, Hollywood powerhouse lawyer Lisa Bloom, saying that she had not intended to threaten the president but vowing she would continue to make fun of Trump in the wake of the controversy. The comedian also said the backlash would not have been as intense had it been a man who had posed for the photo, and accused the Trump family of “bullying” her and trying to ruin her life.
Baldwin wasn’t the only celebrity to stand by Griffin in the wake of the controversy.
Last week, actor Jim Carrey said people shouldn’t “worry” about Griffin’s joke, and advised the comedian to double down by holding up the president’s “severed leg.”
“I think what happens is, when these extraordinary times politically happen, and we’re going through terror and the fear of the end, comics are the last line of defense,” Carrey told an audience at the premiere of his Showtime series, I’m Dying Up Here. “We tell them the truth, and we make something beautiful out of it.”
Follow Daniel Nussbaum on Twitter: @dznussbaum
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