Kathy Griffin Lays Into Jimmy Fallon After Revealing She’s ‘Banned’ From ‘The Tonight Show’

Kathy Griffin is just too hot for TV, or at least The Tonight Show, well that’s what the comedian claimed in a recent Instagram video.

“I have not done the Jimmy Fallon show since it was on at 12:30 Eastern and Pacific, so I guess I’m banned from the Fallon show, or inappropriate, or too controversial,” Griffin said in a video shared on her Instagram page on Tuesday (June 30).

She added, “I don’t even know. When you’re banned from a show, and if you guys know me, I’m banned from most of them. You’re welcome, America and Indonesia. They don’t usually tell you you’re banned. They just can’t seem to find room for you.”

Griffin went on to say that she does “like Jimmy Fallon,” noting that he was “always super nice” to her when she appeared on Late Night, which he hosted from 2009 to 2014. However, she blasted some of his decisions, including recently interviewing former UFC champion Conor McGregor, who was found liable in a sexual assault case in 2024 after being accused of rape.

“I do think it was a bad call for him to have convicted rapist Conor McGregor on [the Tonight Show],” she said. “I think the Fallon folks made a mistake by having Conor McGregor on. I think it sends yet another message to women and marginalized folks everywhere that we’re not equal and you can do anything to us, and the perpetrators are still going to be out there being glorified.”

Griffin added that she felt the same when Fallon invited Donald Trump onto his show in 2016, “and then he petted [his] hair, or as I call it, a bird’s nest. I don’t know… that didn’t sit well with me. I didn’t like when Lorne Michaels had [Trump] host [Saturday Night Live].”

“I think it’s time we kind of make up our minds about who we’re going to cancel it and who we’re not,” she continued. “Take it from the most canceled celebrity in history… look it up. As the kids say, do better.”

In her caption for the post, Griffin wrote, “Fallon, what kind of message are we sending here?! AND can we PLEASE save canceling people for the ones who actually deserve it?”

Griffin last appeared on The Tonight Show in 2013, when Jay Leno was still hosting. In 2017, she was at the center of controversy after posting a photo holding a replica of Trump’s bloody severed head. However, she hasn’t been completely banned from late-night, as she appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live! last year to join another frequent Trump critic.