Kathy Griffin’s surprising hard launch was short-lived, revealing the whole thing was to shed a light on double stabdar
On July 9, the 65-year-old comedian posted a photo on Instagram holding hands with an unidentified man, captioned simply: "He's 22. Have at it, internet." The reactions poured in fast. Griffin responded to the flood of comments with: "I AM DYING AT THESE COMMENTS."
Then, the next day, she pulled back the curtain. The man in the photo was not a romantic partner at all — he was part of her security personnel.
"You Guys! 😂 Thanks to all those who participated in my social media sociological experiment! No, I'm not dating this 22 year-old. He was helping me with security during my trip to NYC. But ...what if I were? The reactions were fascinating," Griffin wrote in her follow-up post.
The results of her experiment split sharply by platform. On Instagram, she said, comments ran "mostly positive," with fans writing things like "Get it, gurllll!" and "He's so 🔥 good for you!" On Threads, the reception was considerably colder. Griffin said she encountered "a whole lot more slut-shaming, accusations of 'grooming,' and debates about how 'gross' it would be for a 65-year-old woman to date a younger man."
That contrast seemed to be exactly what she was after. One commenter on the reveal post put it plainly: "I love the double standard…If it's a man and his third wife is 30 years his junior not a word is said."
Griffin made the same point herself, invoking a list of well-known age-gap couples to underscore it. "Older men have been dating younger women since the beginning of time...just ask Luke Wilson, 54, who just had a beautiful baby with his 24 year-old girlfriend or Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta-Jones, Harrison Ford and Calista Flockhart, Jay-Z and Beyonce...some of the most long-lasting beautiful relationships in my beloved (though ageist and sexist) industry," she wrote.
The stunt lands with some personal context behind it. In an essay published in The Cut last December, Griffin disclosed that she had "accidentally fell in love with a 23-year-old" following her split from ex Randy Bick.
"Because of his age, he didn't have the usual sexism, misogyny, and biases that guys my age tend to have,” she wrote. “He seemed to see me." She ultimately ended the relationship because she felt he was too young to know what he truly wanted for the future.
She closed out her reveal post with a note of reassurance: "Relax... just a little harmless fun with you guys with an IG post."
