Kathy Griffin has spoken out against a vile, doctored video that depicts the president slaughtering his opponents, including politicians, journalists, and celebrities like Kathy. To her, and many others, this video is ‘not a joke.’
Comedian Kathy Griffin has condemned the horrific parody video released over the weekend that showed a fake Donald Trump shooting his critics in the “Church of Fake News”. One of the people depicted being slaughtered in the massacre was Kathy herself. “I’m depicted as being murdered by The President of the United States in this video,” Kathy tweeted on October 13. “The left, right & center left me hanging out to dry regarding the Trump mask photo. Please don’t let it happen again. No, this video isn’t a joke to his followers. And it will not be taken as such.” The video is a scene from the 2014 movie Kingsman: The Secret Service, edited to make it appear as though Trump is attacking politicians and journalists. It was shown during the three-day American Priority Conference at Trump’s Doral Miami resort, attended by Donald Trump Jr. and former White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders. It’s unclear if either watched it.
In the video, Trump’s head is superimposed (poorly) onto Colin Firth‘s Kingsman character. He wheels around while leaving the church and pulls out a gun, shooting “Fake News” outlets like NPR, NBC, HuffPost, Politico, and MSNBC journalist Rachel Maddow. He slaughters a number of politicians and critical celebrities in disturbing fashions; Senator Bernie Sanders is set on fire, former Vice President Joe Biden and former President Bill Clinton are both choked, former President Barack Obama is slammed, and Trump’s 2016 opponent, Hillary Clinton, has a gun pressed to her throat. During the brawl, Griffin is killed with an axe, and Rosie O’Donnell is murdered, as well. Trump is also depicted shooting Black Lives Matter point-blanc. The video ends with “CNN” falling down at the church’s altar, impaled on an axe. DJ Khaled‘s “All I Do Is Win” plays as Trump smiles. White House Press Secretary Stephanie Grisham issued a statement via Twitter on October 14, writing, “Re: the video played over the weekend: The @POTUS @realDonaldTrump has not yet seen the video, he will see it shortly, but based upon everything he has heard, he strongly condemns this video.” Trump himself has yet to comment.
The video appears to be the creation of YouTube channel TheGeekzTeam, which is pro-Trump and has created many video mashups featuring the president. The video was posted to the channel in July 2018. One of the American Priority Conference organizers, Alex Phillips, told The New York Times that the “content was submitted by third parties and was not associated with or endorsed by the conference in any official capacity.” The White House Correspondents Association said in a statement to The Guardian that, “All Americans should condemn this depiction of violence directed towards journalists and his political opponents. We have previously told the president his rhetoric could incite violence. Now we call on him and everybody associated with this conference to denounce this video and affirm that violence has no place in our society.”
Democratic 2020 candidate Beto O’Rourke tweeted, “At a conference of Trump supporters, they played a video of our president murdering journalists in a church. Last year, a Trump supporter sent bombs to CNN—and a shooter entered a church yesterday. This video isn’t funny. It will get people killed.” O’Rourke is referring to the incident in October 2018, in which a man mailed bombs to a number of news outlets and politicians, including Rep. Maxine Waters. New Jersey Senator Cory Booker, the Obamas, and the Clintons. The CNN building in NYC was evacuated during the middle of a live broadcast. CNN strongly condemned the video, remembering when their employees were in serious danger of being killed by someone influenced by the president:
“Sadly, this is not the first time that supporters of the president have promoted violence against the media in a video they apparently find entertaining — but it is by far and away the worst. The images depicted are vile and horrific. The president and his family, the White House, and the Trump campaign need to denounce it immediately in the strongest possible terms. Anything less equates to a tacit endorsement of violence and should not be tolerated by anyone.”