Melissa Rivers, the daughter of legendary comedienne and "Fashion Police" host Joan Rivers, has a strong message for Kathy Griffin and she isn't mincing her words. The media personality, who always has a diplomatic response when it comes to questions about Kathy, spoke about the latter's abrupt departure from "Fashion Police." This time, however, she did not hold back.
Kathy was tagged as Joan Rivers' successor after her death last year. However, the comedienne only stayed on the show for seven episodes. When Kathy left, she released a statement saying, "I do not want to use my comedy to contribute to a culture of unattainable perfectionism and intolerance towards difference."
Now, Melissa is taking offense because of what Kathy said. "My biggest complaint was the feeling that she kind of s - - t all over my mother's legacy in her statement on leaving," said the media personality in a report from FOX. "And I know that was not an intentional reading of it, but that's how I felt...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.
Melissa, who also works as an executive producer for the show, admitted that "Fashion Police" did have plenty of problems after her mother's death. She provides an analogy of what happened via Radar, "The family fell apart and the sisters started fighting," she starts off. "And then someone tried to marry into the family. And we know how that went," in reference to Kathy.
If Melissa seems to be taking things personally, she has her reasons. "'Fashion Police' was this little jewel, and it was the last piece I had of my mother and I working together," she said via NY Daily News. "They took the last thing I had and smashed it," she added.
Despite what happened, she's ready to put everything behind as the show is preparing to make its comeback. She says that the people working behind the scenes are setting up a new direction for "Fashion Police." However, she also believes that her mother may also be smiling up in heaven telling everyone, "You all couldn't do it without me, could you?"
"Fashion Police" first debuted in September 2010 as a celebrity commentary series. Aside from Joan Rivers, the show also had Giuliana Rancic, George Kotsiopoulos and Kelly Osbourne as hosts. When Rivers died in September 2014, the series went on a three-month break and returned with Kathy Griffin. On March 2015, after the resignations of both Griffin and Osbourne, E! announced that the show will take a break until September 2015.
