Nearly a year after she suffered a huge career backlash in the wake of the notorious ‘severed head’ photos of Donald Trump, comedian Kathy Griffin has announced her comeback with her first American tour dates since that incident.

Having kept a low profile for most of the last 12 months, ever since the images of herself holding up a fake, bloody ‘severed head’ of President Trump went viral last May, the star appeared on Friday night’s ‘Real Time with Bill Maher’ (March 9th). The 57 year old announced that she was hitting the comeback trail in the States, having spent the end of 2017 and the start of 2018 working in Europe.

Griffin has booked shows at New York City’s Carnegie Hall and at Washington D.C.’s Kennedy Center, which she described as “Trump’s backyard”.

Kathy GriffinKathy Griffin is making a U.S. comeback

“I’m not decimated,” an ebullient Griffin said, holding up two fingers in a gesture, referencing Trump’s eldest son saying on ‘Good Morning America’ last year that he wanted to “decimate” her career.

She’s since added later dates at multiple other American cities including San Francisco and Boston as well as several shows in Canada.

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“I'm dipping my toes into touring again even though the Trumps and nobody wants me to work again,” she told Maher.

The images, taken during a photoshoot with celeb snapper Tyler Shields, caused an enormous backlash that impacted Griffin’s career. She was dropped by CNN from her co-hosting duties on their New Year’s Eve show, several publications and networks refused to work with her anymore, and was even the subject of a two-month federal investigation by two Department of Justice agencies.

Griffin initially apologised for the photos, but when the criticism kept on coming, she later retracted her apology, describing much of the backlash as “B.S.”.

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