"I said, 'I'll put our beef aside and Anderson, you have to go to Minnesota. We need famous faces there.' And then I said to Andy, 'Andy, I know you do a silly show, Watch What Happens Live, but take a minute.' And then he did. I would like to see Jimmy Fallon get political and he's not. That's the place where it's kind of very safe."
"Jimmy is the winner in this one because he sat down with Bob Iger and Dana Walden and just looked them right in the face and said, 'No, I'm not going to stop making fun of Trump. And you'll have to take me off the air.' And then Trump got him off the air for something like three nights and the backlash was so enormous that even Bob Iger said, 'OK, we'll let you do whatever you want about Trump.'"
"Right now, the way we got him back on the air is the most successful of our moves as lefties. People wrote in and wrote old-fashioned letters and emailed ABC and Disney. I wish more celebrities would have that level of balls."
Kathy Griffin describes pressuring Anderson Cooper and Andy Cohen to address political concerns in Minnesota, using guilt and shame as motivators despite their mutual dislike. She critiques late-night hosts for their varying levels of political engagement, noting Jimmy Fallon's reluctance and Stephen Colbert's insufficient pushback against CBS/Paramount. Griffin praises Jimmy Kimmel as the standout for directly confronting Disney executives Bob Iger and Dana Walden, refusing to stop criticizing Trump and threatening to accept removal from air. When Trump succeeded in getting Kimmel off the air temporarily, public backlash through letters and emails to ABC and Disney proved so significant that executives reversed course. Griffin identifies this grassroots response as the most successful activist move by progressives, expressing frustration that more celebrities lack similar courage.
Read at Queerty
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