Kathy Griffin Had a Dramatic Reaction to Chris Hardwick Being Cleared of Abuse Allegations

By Raechal Leone Shewfelt
Yahoo Entertainment
July 25, 2018

https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/kathy-griffin-dramatic-reaction-chris-hardwick-cleared-abuse-allegations-232025594.html

Kathy Griffin is speaking out against Chris Hardwick. (Photo: Getty Images)

Chris Hardwick’s return to AMC’s Talking Dead was not happy news for Kathy Griffin.

The comedian was blunt in her response to the announcement that Hardwick will once again host the Walking Dead and Fear the Walking Dead aftershow, beginning Aug. 12.

Hardwick was suspended a month ago, after his former girlfriend, actress Chloe Dykstra, accused him of emotional and physical abuse in a detailed essay. The season premiere of his show, Talking With Chris Hardwick, was yanked from the AMC schedule, his name was pulled off the Nerdist website that he founded, and he withdrew from panel discussions at last week’s San Diego Comic-Con.

However, the network has now cleared him after an investigation: “Following a comprehensive assessment by AMC, working with Ivy Kagan Bierman of the firm Loeb & Loeb, who has considerable experience in this area, Chris Hardwick will return to AMC as the host of Talking Dead and Talking with Chris Hardwick. We take these matters very seriously and given the information available to us after a very careful review, including interviews with numerous individuals, we believe returning Chris to work is the appropriate step.”

Hardwick always maintained his innocence and said he was “blindsided” by the accusations. His actress friend Jaimie Alexander helped circulate a petition, signed by more than 44,500 people, to bring Hardwick back.

Once he was reinstated, Griffin was far from the only one with something to say about it. Some referenced the situation of other men recently accused of wrongdoing like James Gunn, the Guardians of the Galaxy director who was fired by Disney last week, after racist and homophobic comments he wrote in old tweets, a move that was protested by many of his fans.

Here are some of the social media reactions to Hardwick’s return to AMC, including a supportive one from Hardwick’s wife, Lydia Hearst: