Kathy Griffin knows who her real fans are: The queers.
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With Griffin from her early days at open-mic nights at gay bars, and by her side through her challenging 2017 cancellation, LGBTQ+ people have come to love her foul-mouthed, take-no-prisoners comedy. And Griffin continues to give back to the community by using her platform to advocate for LGBTQ+ lives. From the AIDS epidemic to fighting for marriage equality, the comic has used her voice to speak out against anti-LGBTQ+ hate and those spewing it again and again.
As Griffin embarks on tour with a show she promises will be filled with her sharp political commentary, The Advocate is highlighting her bold activism and utterly unique humor by selecting her as our 2025 Advocate of the Year.
Our 2025 Advocate of the Year, Kathy Griffin
Griffin invited The Advocate inside her gorgeous Malibu home for a photoshoot, partly paying homage to an iconic shot of Faye Dunaway. Not only did she feature pieces of queer media, but also her beloved dogs: Olivia, Elliot, Maggie, and Mary.
While her fans may know her from her standup specials, appearing in Suddenly Susan, her hilarious Bravo reality show Kathy Griffin: My List on the D-List, or her recent feature on queer comedy series Unconventional, many now know Griffin for one thing: a 2017 bit in which she held a fake severed head made up to look like Donald Trump’s. The blowback was fierce, making Griffin one of the few public figures to cross over from controversy to true cancellation: She lost her comedy tour, was condemned by figures across the political spectrum, and found herself under federal investigation.
"My cancellation was a real cancellation," says Griffin. "When I hear these other comedians bitching about being canceled, I'm like, 'Go fuck yourself.' I didn't work for seven years because of the president. I was investigated by the Department of Justice and interrogated under oath because they were trying to charge me with the felony of conspiracy to assassinate the President of the United States. These other comics that are like, 'Oh, I was canceled for a week' — cry me a river."
Jen Rosenstein
Now, thanks to her loyal LGBTQ+ fans, the comedian is fighting her way back into the spotlight with fresh criticism for Trump – and a newfound sense of purpose. Now that she’s turned 65, Griffin says there’s nothing holding her back from saying and doing what she wants. It’s why she decided to wear a “skimpy” bikini for her recent interview on Sherri.
“We live in such an ageist society that there's this notion that when you're a woman and you're 65, you don't have a sex life anymore, your body is something you should be ashamed of and hide,” Griffin says. “Not me. I work out all the time, I love having sex, and I'm gonna go out in a bikini in high heels.”
Jen Rosenstein
It’s an attitude Griffin has held her entire life, and one that has fueled her advocacy. From the shy boy she befriended in kindergarten to the fans who stick by her today, the Emmy and Grammy winner says she has always felt "extremely protective" of LGBTQ+ people. As far back as grade school and high school, Griffin says she "would find the gays and they'd find me, since we both had a similar point of view of being a bit of an outsider looking in."
"When I saw the way the gay kids were treated as less than or not equal in any way, I just couldn't stand for it, and I couldn't keep my mouth shut," Griffin says. "The pretty girls would beat me up once a year ... but I had a real kinship with my gay friends and we ended up sticking up for each other. And there's strength in numbers, so we kind of survived the tough years together."
Jen Rosenstein
The same people who sparked her love for performing would become the people who made up her first audiences, and soon after, her first fan base. As Griffin sought to break into the entertainment industry, she found that LGBTQ+ bars were the perfect spots for her brand of dark humor to land.
"I would do open mic nights at gay clubs, and it was always a better audience," she says. "I always gravitated toward the gay clubs and bars because I call the audience the 'unshockable gays.' I cannot shock a gay person. They've seen it all, they've done it all, they've survived it all."
Griffin never shied away from her label as an edgy comedian with a large queer following, even before it was a socially acceptable brand to claim. But as she continued to embrace the LGBTQ+ community, they would fiercely embrace her back. Her support — whether financially to the Trevor Project or through visibility — won her recognition from both GLAAD and the Human Rights Campaign.
"A lot of my career has been convincing the old white guys who run this business not to underestimate the consumer power of the gay community," Griffin says. "Some of those guys think I'm so associated with the gay community that I'm a gay comic or a comic just for gay audiences. And I say bring it, because gay audiences are a great, high number. Take them seriously as consumers."
Jen Rosenstein
Griffin believes that "it's a big part of a comic's job to say the things that other people are afraid to say" — an attitude that has often gotten her in trouble. Hours after she shared the 2017 photo of her holding the fake Trump head, the Secret Service had launched an investigation, venues canceled her upcoming performances, and she was fired from her New Year's Eve CNN hosting gig with Anderson Cooper.
Griffin didn't just lose work: She recalls losing some of her closest friends during the fallout as they began to drop her one by one. The comedian was also subjected to an onslaught of death threats, both off- and online, even following her apology shortly after the photo was shared.
There were still some people who stood by Griffin throughout the controversy: her queer fans. Not only were they loyal, but one of the first places that booked her for a gig after her cancellation was a gay cruise.
Jen Rosenstein
"The gay community was the only group that didn't cancel me, to tell you the truth," Griffin continues. "They were the first to reach out to me and say, 'We think that Trump should be put in his place. We think what you did was appropriate or hilarious or beautifully outrageous.' So I was like, thank god the gay community didn't turn on me."
"I remember some boys posted a picture on Fire Island where they all dressed up as me, and they all got Trump Halloween masks and they were walking around holding them," she adds. "I felt like it was really a tangible message from the gay community saying, 'We're partying in Fire Island, but we are with you. You're our girl.'"
Jen Rosenstein
Almost a year into Trump's second term, people have been punished for jokes far more innocuous than Griffin's. Countless social media users have reported losing their jobs after making critical comments about right-wing pundit Charlie Kirk following his murder, or after simply quoting him. Meanwhile, the president's son and other Republicans mocked the 2022 assault of Nancy Pelosi's husband with no consequences.
The censorship worries Griffin, as does the Trump administration's increasing crackdown on LGBTQ+ rights. She says, "We are going through something in this country that I've never seen in my lifetime, and I'm not being alarmist — I'm telling you this administration is crazy."
"I am very fearful for the community right now," Griffin says, referencing the Supreme Court's expected decision to void state laws banning conversion therapy, and warning that “gay conversion camps… are going to come back.”
"I think gay marriage is low-hanging fruit for this Supreme Court and obviously this fucked-up president,” she adds. “These are civil rights that this administration, Stephen Miller and that crowd, are gonna take away. We are gonna have to fight back." (Thankfully, SCOTUS this week decided not to take up a case revisiting federal marriage equality.)
It's bad enough that Republicans have been using transgender people as a wedge issue to distract from their own failings, Griffin says, but what's worse is that conservative voters are actually falling for it. While claims that the trans community is "grooming" or "indoctrinating" kids in public schools “might sound like a joke to us because it's such an outrageous lie," she notes that there are many people who actually believe it.
"I can't stand that there's even one Karen in Orange County who thinks a trans person is their problem in life and they're gonna vote for — of all people — Donald fucking Trump, who couldn't give a shit about gay people either way," Griffin says.
The only way to push back against Trump is to "stay vigilant and stay close-knit as a community," Griffin says. To abandon trans people like some Democrats have suggested would be wrong, as she emphasizes, "Don't let anything divide you into this subgroup or this subgroup. United we stand, divided we fall."
"Be aware. Mobilize like only the gay community can do,” Griffin says. “I've seen it before. I lived through the AIDS epidemic, and the organization with the gay community was fierce. I hate to say it because the clock is going backwards for gay rights, but this administration is not playing. We need to get as active and organized as possible."
As Griffin embarks on her latest tour, New Face, New Tour, she's excited to "say all the things that are inappropriate, and to say the quiet part out loud." She promises not to pull her punches against the Trump administration out of fear, as "they've already done just about everything to me they can do."
"I just want to express my gratitude because honestly, if it wasn't for the gay community, I wouldn't have been able to come back the way that I'm actually finally getting uncanceled and coming back," Griffin says. "If somebody is the only gay person in their office or the only gay person in their family, I want them to know you can come to a Kathy Griffin show. It's a safe space, and I'm just gonna give you some laughs."
Jen Rosenstein
talent KATHY GRIFFIN @kathygriffin
photographer JEN ROSENSTEIN @jenrosenstein
photography assistants ALY WHITMAN @alywhitman and SEAN MICHON @sean michon
styling JULIANNA EASTON and NORA FOLEY @annieandnora
glam MANDY O'HANLON @mandyohmakeup
videographer LACY VALENTI
creative director MIKEY LOMBARDO @djmikeypop
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