Newsweek‘s Alexandra Gekas talks to Kathy Griffin about life on the D-list and asks, “What do you have in common with other female entertainers like Bette, Barbra or Liza that make gay men love you?”
Answers Griffin: “I have been asked this a lot, and I've thought about it a lot. As I learn more about the gay community I think it's kind of about fighting to be part of something and fighting to be noticed and taken seriously but always with a sense of outrageousness. That's what I love about Bette, because she used to say ‘F— 'em if they can't take a joke.' And then there's Liza, who overcame drugs and this overbearing man or that overbearing man and an outrageous mother. They love me because I'm outrageous, and I love them as an audience because they're the unshockable gays, which is what comedy should be about. But when I was in high school I went to prom with the gay kid, and I've always been friends with the gay kids. What I admire about the gay community, and what I wish women would learn, is that they are good at organizing and getting stuff done, while women attack each other. I think the gay community is very good about that, they get together they mobilize and they stand up against so much abject adversity.”