Joan Rivers' daughter says about Griffin's exit, 'I understand what you were doing, you're trying to save yourself, but don't crap all over my mother to do it.'
- May 15, 2015
AceShowbiz - Melissa Rivers blasted Kathy Griffin who was brought in to "Fashion Police" as a replacement for the late Joan Rivers but left as soon as the show was hit with controversies. "My biggest complaint (about Griffin) was the feeling that she kind of sh*t all over my mother's legacy in her statement on leaving," Melissa told Hoka Kotb in a new chat.
"I know that was not an intentional reading of it, but that's how I felt. But, I know that's not how it was intended. I know everything was so heightened and everybody was so crazy, but that was my takeaway, by calling the comedy and the style of it old-fashioned - it was like, I understand what you were doing, you're trying to save yourself, but don't crap all over my mother to do it," she added.
"We were a family, cast and crew and staff, and we went back too fast. And when the matriarch dies, the sisters started fighting, and someone tried to marry in," she said, adding that Kathy Griffin wasn't the right person to take over Joan Rivers' place. "I'm just going to say it wasn't a match on a lot of levels."
"Fashion Police" lost two hosts after Giuliana Rancic was accused of being racist for saying that Zendaya Coleman's dreadlocks at the Oscars probably smelled like "weed." Kelly Osbourne was the first to walk away before Griffin followed.
"It never would have happened if she was alive," Melissa said of the drama. "I think there might be a little bit of a twinkle in her eye, saying, 'Y'all couldn't do it without me, could ya?' And then, after that, I think she would be a little bit frustrated."
"If something like that had happened and my mother had been alive, her reaction immediately would have been, 'Are you serious? Oh, please. All this over a wig?� Literally, it was a wig. Let's just all relax. ... She would have called Giuliana and yelled at Giuliana. She would have called Kelly and yelled at Kelly and said, 'Stop it!' And, she would have listened to them both cry and complain about each other, and she'd be like, 'OK - is everyone over it? Now, let's go to work and make a funny show.' "
" 'Fashion Police' was this little jewel, and it was the last piece I had of my mother and I working together. And I felt like all these people were so out of control, including the one who made the allegations of racism," Melissa said. "They took the last thing I had and smashed it. ... I felt like I was Humpty Dumpty, and I felt like I was on my knees gluing it back together or at least trying to find the pieces"
Despite the drama, the show is expected to return. Melissa said they were working on a new direction.
