Kathy Griffin has hired high-powered attorney Lisa Bloom and will hold a press conference Friday to address the firestorm surrounding the viral image of herself holding the bloody, decapitated head of President Donald Trump and the “bullying” she claims she has endured at the hands of the Trump family as a result.
In a statement on her Twitter account, Bloom — who represented actress Mischa Baron in her sex tape case and former Fox News contributor Wendy Walsh in her harassment suit against the network — announced that she and Griffin would hold a press conference at 9 a.m. Friday at The Bloom Firm in Woodland Hills.
“Earlier this week, Ms. Griffin released a controversial photograph of herself posing with a faux-bloody mask of Donald Trump’s face,” the attorney’s statement read. “Ms. Griffin and Ms. Bloom will explain the true motivation behind the image, and respond to the bullying from the Trump family she has endured.”
The photograph of Griffin holding a fake, bloodied head meant to resemble that of the president sparked a firestorm online this week, with the president and First Lady Melania Trump addressing the incident in separate statements. In a message on his Twitter account, the president said the comedian “should be ashamed of herself,” while the First Lady called the image “very disturbing” and “simply wrong.”
TMZ reported this week that Trump’s youngest son, 11-year-old Barron Trump, became distraught when he saw the image on television, because he did not know who Griffin was or the context in which the photograph was taken.
Griffin was fired from CNN this week, where she has hosted New Year’s Eve Live with network anchor Anderson Cooper since 2007. The 56-year-old My Life on the D-List star has also seen the cancellation of at least five scheduled engagements on her cross-country comedy tour.
It was not immediately clear what Bloom meant by the bullying that Griffin has endured from the Trump family.
The Bloom Firm did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Follow Daniel Nussbaum on Twitter: @dznussbaum
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