Kathy Griffin Says She Has ‘Quite a Few Trumper Friends’ 8 Years After ‘Very Triggering’ Trump Photo Controversy (Exclusive)

Kathy Griffin is sharing a valuable lesson she learned in the past decade.

Eight years after the comedian, 65, came under fire for posting a photo holding a Halloween mask of President Donald Trump covered in ketchup to create the illusion that he had a severed head, she is reflecting on how her perspective on life and her career has changed.

“I think it’s accepting that people don’t change,” she told PEOPLE at Out Magazine’s Out100 party. “I think I spent a lot of my life, whether it was romantically or career-wise, thinking somebody would change or I could maybe skew someone’s perspective. And now look, believe it or not, I have quite a few Trumper friends.”

“I even have friends that didn’t vote, they didn’t like either candidate,” she continues. “But I think it’s important to be around people that do have different opinions and we get along. So there’s an understanding. And then there are some Trumpers that find me very triggering because of the Trump head picture. So I still am confronted about that photo to this day and complimented about that photo. But I get both.”

Still, the Emmy winner, who was honored at the event as Advocate of the Year, says she feels it is necessary to be outspoken about what she believes in, including being an ally to the LGBTQ+ community.

“I think a lot of people are fearful, and I am fearless,” Griffin says. “I’m trying to get a little fear. I don’t have any. If you have any, I’d love some because this fearless thing is kind of scary sometimes. But like I said, whether it’s a court case or marching, organizing or mobilizing, it’s important to have our voices heard.”

“This administration is really coming for the LGBT community and everything, from making conversion therapy legal again, which as a comic was a joke in my act,” Griffin adds. “The idea that you think that could work is — it was something to laugh at — now it’s real. And I think it’s important that everybody stay politically engaged even if politics aren’t your thing because gay rights are civil rights.”

In the aftermath of her nationwide photo scandal in 2017, which Griffin claimed on X was inspired by Trump’s “sexist comments to Don Lemon about Megyn Kelly from the 2015 campaign,” she was met with an investigation by the government that resulted in her being placed on the no-fly list and an FBI visit at her home.

She quickly lost endorsement deals, her comedy tour and a long-standing gig as the co-host of CNN’s New Year’s Eve coverage with Anderson Cooper.

“I wasn’t canceled,” she told The New York Times in January 2022. “I was erased.”

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She returned to the stage in 2023 after a six-year hiatus with a solo show at The Mirage in Las Vegas. In June of that year, she told PEOPLE that she was “absolutely ready” for her comeback.

“I am coming out of my cancellation,” she went on to declare.

That same year, Griffin shared that she had been diagnosed with “complex PTSD,” later telling PEOPLE she believes the fallout from the Trump photo contributed to the diagnosis. Two years prior, she also received a stage 1 lung cancer diagnosis, leading her to undergo several vocal cord surgeries.

“I feel like I figuratively lost my comedic voice because of the Trump photo scandal, I literally lost my voice due to the cancer surgery and now I finally have my voice back,” Griffin said. “I’m a grateful, naughty comedian again!”