Kathy Griffin on Beheaded Trump Photo: 'I Wish I Could Tour in the U.S. Without Getting Shot'

Kathy Griffin did the seemingly impossible earlier this year: She lost the moral high ground to Donald Trump.

The 57-year-old comedian faced serious backlash after she posted a shocking photo in which she is seen holding a bloody decapitated head that looked a lot like Donald Trump. Griffin’s ill-conceived ploy to get attention resulted in several major career setbacks, including the cancelation of her comedy tour and losing her gig hosting CNN's New Year's Eve telecast alongside Anderson Cooper.

Griffin later apologized for sharing the violent image, but in a recent interview with Politico, she suggests her rapid fall from grace was caused by Trump’s response via Twitter:

She went on to say that Trump’s tweet about the photo was a way to distract from the ousting of former FBI director James Comey, which occurred several weeks before the photo surfaced online.

“I think [the photo] would have been gone in a week without his tweet. Trump knows what would be perceived as something hysterical and he loves hysteria. There are millions of people who think I’m a member of ISIS to this day,” she said. “I wish I could tour in the U.S. without getting shot—I know I can’t. I was in the middle of a 50-city tour when the tweet happened. It was canceled in 24 hours.”

Now that the dust is starting to settle, and the death threats are becoming less frequent, Griffin seems to be optimistic about the next chapter of her career.

“My answer is to keep producing funny stuff,” she said. “My YouTube is lit. I really do have a real story to tell. In my live act, I talk about the interrogation with the feds and how everybody turned on me on every platform. I still can’t tweet a picture of my new puppies without getting all hateful responses in broken English.”