Years After Being Shunned From Hollywood, Kathy Posts About Being Left Out Of An LGBTQ+ Comedy Event In Los Angeles
As the summer approaches we’re about to be overloaded with a mass amount of festivals geared towards any audience who will flip the coin to attend. We’re familiar with the most popular ones like country music’s Stagecoach or the herpes spreading Coachella – and even the potentially Fyre Festival 2.0 in Lovers & Friends, but there’s also random ones that don’t target music lovers and instead want to make us laugh. This brings us to a new comedy festival thrown by streaming service giant, Netflix, to swimmingly promote their comedy specials.
The Netflix Is A Joke comedy festival promises an unbelievable amount of talent and a lot of different types of funny. On par with their advertising, the Netflix team announces they created a comedy festival because “a festival for crime documentaries wasn’t as funny” – (Low key – there’s a huge audience who actually would go to a crime documentary festival so someone should take notice and get on that). Netflix boasts a huge lineup of some of the best comedians in the business. Seriously, we’re talking Dave Chappelle, Jamie Foxx, Jane Fonda, Lily Tomlin, the cast of Schitt’s Creek (doing a live table read), Ali Wong, Bill Burr, Amy Schumer, Jerry Seinfeld, Chris Rock, Sarah Silverman, Whoopi Goldberg, Kevin Hart, and so, so many more. They are even dedicating a specific night to LGBTQ comedians aptly titled Stand Out as a part of their festival. On this night, we’ll see openly gay comedians like Margaret Cho, Sandra Bernhard, Wanda Sykes, Rosie O’Donnell, and again – many more – but, we’re going to not be seeing our favorite, fiery redhead take the stage.
According to Facebook, Long term LGBTQ ally, Kathy Griffin, took to her social media to discuss how upset she is for being blacklisted from the event that sees a lot of her former friends like O’Donnell and Tomlin as the headliners. Griffin tells:
“This is what the active KG blacklist looks like…This Netflix / Live Nation Comedy event looks like it’s going to be great. Today is the first I’ve heard of it. Ouch. It’s a horrible thing to be erased. I know the number of people it takes to put a massive event like this together. Clearly not one person with any influence insisted that I get one show at the 3,000 seat Dolby Theatre (or a similar venue) that I sold out two nights in a row last time I played there in 2018. Keep in mind, I helped generate Billions in revenue for several networks, streaming services and concert promoters over four decades. I’m learning it’s a slow drip and excruciating process. As this is happening, I’m seeing that one is left alone to figure out how to cope by one’s self. It’s awful to realize a handful of power brokers can stop this cycle and simply choose not to. I know you guys, my real life beloved fans are here for me and have kept me going.”
Griffin is of course referring to the blacklist she’s been on since the infamous beheaded Donald Trump photograph scandal. We’ve seen her talk about not being able to get a job in Hollywood for years now – and she’s back to hosting a handful of “D-List” (her words) LGBTQ events like the Str8Up Gay Porn Awards or Queerties. While it’s sad that Griffin is back in her head – it’s pretty clear Netflix invited those who have already had specials on their platform. But, with random standouts of legends like Goldberg, Fonda, and O’Donnell – one could certainly think Griffin was completely overlooked and purposefully debunked.
Tickets for Netflix Is A Joke Festival are open to the public on Friday, March 6th. You can purchase tickets here.
Writer’s Note: This is the opinion of one Instinct Magazine contributor and does not reflect the views of Instinct Magazine itself or fellow contributors.
H/T: Facebook
