Kathy Griffin claimed she was effectively kicked out of Jimmy Fallon’s “Tonight Show” for being “too inappropriate or controversial.”
The 65-year-old comedian said Tuesday that he hasn’t appeared on NBC’s late-night talk show since Fallon became host in 2014, making him feel like he’s no longer welcome.
“I haven’t appeared on The Jimmy Fallon Show since it started at 12:30pm ET. So I guess that’s why I was kicked off the Fallon show, because it was inappropriate or because I was too controversial,” Griffin said in an Instagram video.
“I don’t even know. When you’re locked out of a show, and if you guys know me, I’m locked out of most shows. You’re welcome, America and Indonesia. They don’t usually say you’re locked out. They can’t seem to find room for you.”
Her last appearance on “The Tonight Show” was in 2013 when Jay Leno hosted.
Griffin praised Fallon, saying the “Taxi” actor was “always very gracious” during his appearances while hosting “Late Night” from 2009 to 2014, but criticized some of Fallon’s booking decisions since taking over “The Tonight Show.”
“I think it was a bad decision on his part to convict rapist Conor McGregor,” she said of the former UFC champion’s June 16 appearance.
“I think the people at Fallon made a mistake by putting Conor McGregor on the show. I think this sends yet another message to women and marginalized people around the world that we are not equal, that they can do whatever they want to us, and that the perpetrators will still be out and glorified.”
She also brought up Fallon’s 2016 interview with Donald Trump, which took place two months before he was elected president.
“It reminds me of when Fallon (Donald Trump) dressed up and stroked his hair, what I would call a bird’s nest. I don’t know, it just didn’t sit well with me,” Griffin said.
“I didn’t like it when Lorne Michaels (Trump) hosted ‘Saturday Night Live.’ I think it’s time to decide who to cancel and who not to cancel. Let’s start with the most canceled celebrities of all time. Find out. As the kids say, try harder.”
Griffin captioned her Instagram post: “Fallon, what message are we sending here?! And can you please leave a cancellation for the people who actually deserve it?”
In 2017, the comedian posted a photo of himself holding a fake bloody severed head resembling then-President Trump, sparking widespread backlash.
At the time, Trump said of Griffin, “You should be ashamed,” but Griffin later said, “I don’t think I’ll have a career after this…(Trump) broke me. He broke me.”
Earlier this year, Griffin said she supported the controversial image.
“I absolutely lean into it, because I was right and I was ahead of the curve,” she told WUSF in February.
“So when I look at that picture now, I’m so proud.”
Griffin has largely stayed out of the spotlight in recent years.
She last starred in FX’s comedy documentary Hysterical in 2021, lent her voice to an episode of Futurama in 2023, and self-produced her stand-up special My Life on the PTSD List in 2025, which chronicled her lung cancer diagnosis and the aftermath of the 2017 Trump photo scandal.
Mr. Griffin also acknowledged in April that he donated $10,000 to U.S. Rep. Eric Swalwell’s failed California gubernatorial campaign, saying he did so because Mr. Swalwell, who was later accused of sexual assault, was a “deviant white, heterosexual man.”
