There has been a lot of controversy over the lack of political correctness on ‘Fashion Police’ and Kathy Griffin’s subsequent departure. Fashion blogger Tillie Adelson assesses why.
I blame “Ask Her More.” Thanks Reese. Well that’s what Joan would say, if she were here to witness the implosion of her beloved snarky comedy TV show, Fashion Police. However, that is the problem: Joan is no longer at the helm of the show and Fashion Police came back like a wrecking ball – in more ways than one.
Kathy Griffin, the famously acerbic comedienne, seemed like an apt replacement for the recently-departed Joan Rivers, due both to their similar comedy styles and longstanding friendship. |
Fashion Police returned from its brief break boasting a shiny new set and an apt fiery red headed host. Kathy Griffin, the famously acerbic comedienne, seemed like an apt replacement for the recently-departed Joan Rivers, due both to their similar comedy styles and longstanding friendship. As the show started anew, it persisted through its busy time: award season. Fashion’s super bowl: the Oscars, were upon them with the Fashion Police crew ready to critique, analyze and mock celebrity sartorial choices and then some. Fashion Police has never been at a loss for controversy and Joan herself had been scrutinized for her crass and sometimes over the top offensive comments. This newer version of the show had no intention of deviating from its original brand of humor.
During their Oscar special, original co-host Giuliana Rancic unabashedly spewed a scripted joke about actress Zendaya’s dreadlocks that caused the actress herself to call attention to the negativity of the comments and thus began an all too familiar social media uproar. Rancic was quick to issue an apology but the damage was done. Friend of Zendaya’s and another original co-host, Kelly Osbourne was defeated and quit the show—after spending five years with it and only praising her time with Joan. Indeed if Joan had said the Zendaya joke, no one would have quit and the show most certainly would have gone on.
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With Kelly’s exit confirmed and the Internet aflutter, Fashion Police was trying to figure out its next steps when suddenly, that fiery red head I spoke of earlier issued a very dramatic and lengthy statement announcing her departure from the show after only seven episodes. That’s right, the freshly face-lifted Fashion Police, was already imploding. The bigger and more criminal part of Kathy Griffin’s sanctimonious departure is that Griffin did not just announce she had quit the show; she enlisted her celebrity friends to back her publicly. All of a sudden Lena Dunham, Chelsea Handler, and Kristen Johnston were tweeting their support for Kathy abandoning her post at Fashion Police for what she calls a contribution “to a culture of unattainable perfectionism and intolerance towards difference.”
Oh Kathy, I doth protest! You knew what you were getting into by signing up for Fashion Police and it just wasn’t working out. You don’t know fashion or how to critique it and the fans were not amused. |
Kathy must think we’re real fools—she thinks we are going to buy that she didn’t know what the premise of the show, that her “beloved” friend Joan reigned over for several years, was? Generally, the segments from Fashion Police are “Bitch Stole My Look,” “Starlet or Streetwalker,” and “Guess me From Behind.” She not only tweeted but touted, to many media outlets, that “my style does not fit with the creative direction of the show.” Did she think the creative direction was to create segments called: “Guess them from the field: Aids activist or Poverty Fighter?” I think everyone is calling bull on Kathy’s contrived reasoning for exiting and her ongoing persistence that she is not that kind of comedian. Even Andy Cohen, her friend and one-time colleague at Bravo, exclaimed that it is indeed her brand of humor to make fun of celebrities:
“She’s like, ‘Oh, I don’t want to make fun of anyone.’ This show’s about making fun of people. And the reason everyone loves Kathy Griffin is she makes fun of people constantly …”
Oh Kathy, I doth protest! You knew what you were getting into by signing up for Fashion Police and it just wasn’t working out. You don’t know fashion or how to critique it and the fans were not amused. If you were resourceful, perhaps you could be the type of comedian who could make the show intelligent and interesting while maintaining its ethos.
Sadly, Fashion Police could not withstand the Zendaya backlash and with two of the co-hosts leaving, E! confirmed the show is taking a hiatus until this coming fall. I doubt the show will return: we’ve seen the last of Fashion Police. The show was Joan, she could withstand the heat for her controversy because she had lived life, seen it all: her husband’s suicide, a 20-year lockout from late night television, heaps of plastic surgery—she had nothing to loose. She was unapologetic and provocative—something Kathy Griffin can only dream of being.
Photo – Flickr: “Joan Rivers by David Shankbone NYC 2010″/David Shankbone
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