Gawker Demands the Return of Kathy Griffin to New Year’s Eve TV — Along With a ‘Prudish Gay Man’ Cohost to ‘Giggle’

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“New Year’s Eve was taken away from Kathy Griffin unfairly,” according to a writer at Gawker, and it’s time to reinstall her in her year-end television hosting duties — but she should be accompanied by a “prudish gay man” cohost to “giggle” at her antics.

In an article published on Thursday (and yes, Gawker is still a thing), Kelly Conaboy details Griffin’s fall from grace in 2017 after she posted a photo of her holding up a bloody decapitated head of former President Donald Trump — a fake but shocking photo that was swiftly condemned by many on both sides of the aisle.

The image was “reminiscent” of ISIS hostage videos and “indeed a poor choice,” wrote Conaboy, and led directly to Griffin being fired from CNN’s annual New Year’s Eve broadcast, which she had co-hosted for years with then-pal Anderson Cooper.

The CNN New Year’s fête had been Conaboy’s favorite of the television broadcasts, she wrote. “Kathy would make off-color jokes, Anderson would giggle demurely, and we viewers would be ushered as pleasantly as possible into another year of life’s misery.”

However, Cooper was among those who publicly criticized Griffin for the “clearly disgusting and completely inappropriate” photo, a betrayal that led Conaboy to vow to “despise him for his cowardice for the rest of my life.”

But now, argued Conaboy, enough time had passed and Griffin was “primed for a comeback,” as she was “on the mend” after surgery for Stage One lung cancer, and had recently appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, where the host deemed her “uncancelled.”

It remains to be seen if Jimmy Kimmel actually wields the power to cancel or uncancel anyone, but the Gawker writer declared Griffin “just needs somebody to give her a New Year’s Eve telecast,” and a key requirement was “a prudish gay man to giggle demurely while Kathy makes her tasteless jokes.”

After first acknowledging that she risked “get[ting] this canceled again before it even begins” by naming names of “prudish gay men,” she then openly pondered if Ronan Farrow would be available and how likely he might be to giggle, or at least “hide his face in his hands when Kathy said something rude.”