Anderson Cooper hopes Kathy Griffin 'bounces back' from photo

Randy Cordova | The Republic | azcentral.com

Show Caption Hide Caption Anderson Cooper and Andy Cohen hit the road together The two TV hosts and longtime friends have very different traits that come together in a traveling show.

PHOENIX — During his appearance at the Comerica Theatre on Friday night, Anderson Cooper addressed an issue that was on a lot of people’s minds: The Kathy Griffin situation.

“She and I have been friends for a long time and I want nothing but good things for her,” he said about an hour into his show with Andy Cohen.

CNN fired Griffin from the New Year’s Eve hosting duties she shared with Cooper after a controversial photo in which she held a severed head designed to resemble President Trump.

The gag backfired on the comic, who also has seen cancellations of her appearances around the country.

After the photo went public last week, Cooper posted on his Twitter account on May 30 that he found the picture “clearly disgusting and completely inappropriate.” Those words surprised some fans, who knew of the longtime friendship between the two.

For the record, I am appalled by the photo shoot Kathy Griffin took part in. It is clearly disgusting and completely inappropriate. — Anderson Cooper (@andersoncooper) May 31, 2017

During Friday's two-and-a-half hour performance, he talked about the situation.

"I don’t want anybody’s career to be destroyed because they do something unfortunate and inappropriate, but yeah, I thought what she did was inappropriate," he said. "You know, I think I said that I thought it was completely inappropriate and I didn’t approve it in any way, and I think when you’re friends with somebody you can say that."

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He and Cohen said that when the photo initially appeared, people began tweeting Cooper and tagging him on social media.

"People were assuming I was somehow responsible for this and I just felt I should point out that I actually think this is pretty important as somebody who works overseas and, you know, journalists get beheaded and this is not a joke," Cooper said.

Cooper appeared ready to discuss the topic. Cohen introduced it, perhaps preempting an audience member from bringing up Griffin during a Q&A segment that eventually followed.

"Anyway, I said that and CNN made the decision not to bring her back," Cooper continued. "I had nothing to do with it, but I certainly understand why they made that decision. And look, I wish her well and I hope she bounces back and keeps doing what she does best, which is make people laugh."

Cooper’s appearance comes a week after Griffin held a press conference about the photo. She teared up when she discussed Cooper, saying that they had not spoken since the photo scandal. She also choked up when she was asked if CNN pressured Cooper into sending the tweet.

"That hurt, that's all," she said.