Kathy Griffin
From Philosopedia
Kathy Griffin (4 November 1960 - )
Kathleen "Kathy" Mary Griffin was born in the Chicago suburb of Oak Park, Illinois, the daughter of Maggie, a hospital administrator, and John, an electronics store manager.
She attended Oak Park and River Forest High School in Oak Park, Illinois, and studied at Lee Strasberg Institute and one semester at Triton Junior College, River Grove, Illinois. For seven years, she honed her comedy with the Los Angeles improv group called The Groundlings.
Raised a Roman Catholic, the stand-up comedian and television personality calls herself a "fallen Catholic" and a "militant atheist." In "Foul-Mouthed and Funny," an article in OutSmart, she was asked about homosexuality and responded:
- First of all, I am a complete militant atheist at this point. If you don't believe in God, [even though] you don't try to inflict your atheism on anyone, people get furious. And yet we have to listen to everybody's "God this" and "Jesus that." I'm sorry it bothers you that I don't believe in God. I don't care what you believe in. Whatever.
- But I was a fallen Catholic very early on. I remember in high school I got in a huge fight with my parents because I was like, "The Catholic Church is stupid." I wanted to become a Unitarian . . . . You know, I'm not really sure what that is, but it sounds better. Less judgmental.
- I fell away from the Catholics before I even knew how they felt about the gay issue. The gay issue, I gotta tell you, it's one of those things that when I hear . . . when I hear Patricia Heaton from Everybody Loves Raymond talking about her bulls--t about Jesus, and Mel Gibson--that big f--king homophobe--and Star Jones saying it's not in the Bible that gay people should be together . . . those are the pieces of information that I can't forget about somebody once I hear it. I used to think Patricia Heaton was funny on Raymond , but now I'm just grossed out by her.
- I can't get beyond it. I know that that's judgmental. I feel that if you're ignorant about this, what else are you ignorant about? It's the hypocrisy. Patty Heaton has the gayest makeup person you've ever seen - gay, gay, gay, out of the closet - flew out of the closet, never wants to go back in. So what is it like when they're together? Does he just have to keep a lid on it?
On 18 February 2001 atop the 360 Degree Restaurant in Hollywood, with Brooke Shields as her maid of honor Griffin married Matt Moline. They divorced in May 2006. Rumors circulated in 2007 that she was dating Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, a relationship that ended in 2008.
In 2007, upon winning the 2007 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Reality Program, she created a controversy when in her acceptance speech she said,
- Now, a lot of people come up here and thank Jesus for this award. I want you to know that no one had less to do with this award than Jesus. He didn't help me a bit. If it was up to him, Cesar Millan would be up here with that damn dog. So all I can say is suck it, Jesus, this award is my god now!
Viewers, amused at her satirizing so many celebrities who thank God or Jesus for their part in helping them get an award, laughed at her originality. But when the Catholic League publicized her "offensive remarks," she fought back on Larry King Live, later adding that she thought the Catholic League consisted of one guy and his computer.
Two consecutive episodes of Freethought Radio, a radio program produced by the Freedom From Religion Foundation, included deleted material from the episode. Annie Laurie Gaylor objected to the comment being described as "hate speech." Fox News commentator Bill O'Reilly called Griffin a "pinhead" for her remark, which Griffin considered a "badge of honor."]
