“What Kind Of Message Are We Sending Here?!”: Kathy Griffin Has Slammed Jimmy Fallon's Double Standards As She Claimed She’s Banned From “The Tonight Show” While Conor McGregor Was Welcomed As A Guest

This article contains disturbing details of rape and sexual assault.

Kathy Griffin has joined the people calling out Jimmy Fallon for having Irish MMA star Conor McGregor on his talk show last month — suggesting that the host has double standards over which "canceled" guests he welcomes on.

In case you missed it, Conor’s appearance on The Tonight Show came just 19 months after Nikita Hand won her claim against him in November 2024, with a jury finding that Conor assaulted her in a Dublin hotel room in December 2018. Conor was ordered to pay £206,000 (around $272,000) in damages to Nikita after she accused him of raping her.

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For context, Nikita was forced to file a civil lawsuit against Conor because Ireland's Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) had previously declined to pursue criminal charges after determining that there wasn’t enough evidence to secure a conviction in a criminal court, which requires proving guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. 

Nikita ultimately filed a civil claim for assault because the criminal justice route was not an option for her. The civil system requires a lower burden of proof, which allowed her case to be heard.

Conor vehemently denied the allegations, and said that he’d had consensual sex with Nikita. After eight days of evidence, the jury spent six hours and 10 minutes deliberating before returning its verdict that he had assaulted her. Among the evidence was Nikita’s testimony that Conor pinned her to the bed and left her with extensive bruises and abrasions all over her body, including a scratch on her breast and tenderness on her neck after Conor allegedly placed her in a “chokehold.” After Nikita was taken to the hospital via ambulance, she was assessed in the sexual assault treatment unit, and a paramedic told the court that she had not seen “someone so bruised” in a long time.

In addition, Dr. Daniel Kane from the same treatment unit recalled needing to remove a tampon from Nikita’s vagina with forceps because it had become “wedged” inside her body. He also testified that Nikita had a possible internal tear in her vagina and a “multiplicity" of “moderate to severe” injuries all over her body. In July 2025, Conor lost his civil jury appeal in this case.

With all of this in mind, it’s perhaps unsurprising that people were shocked to tune into The Tonight Show and see Conor sitting on Jimmy’s couch as a guest, with the move being heavily criticized across social media in a series of incredibly viral tweets.

Last week, actor Christina Ricci added her voice to the backlash by sharing a popular Instagram post calling Jimmy out on her story. It read: “Conor McGregor raped a woman so brutally that the EMT who saw her commented on the severity of her bruising. She also had to have the tampon she was using when he raped her surgically removed, as it had been shoved so far inside her. Why the ABSOLUTE FUCK is this piece of human garbage being given a platform on Jimmy Fallon’s show? Shame on you, Jimmy.”

And now, comedian Kathy has called out the industry double standards as she shared her theory that she has been banned from Jimmy’s show while Conor was able to go on. If you need reminding, in 2017, Kathy faced widespread backlash after she posted a photo of herself holding a severed, bloodied mask of Donald Trump.

In a video posted to her Instagram page on Monday, Kathy said: “Now, 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, I don't even know.” Kathy added that when you are banned from a show, “they don’t usually tell you you’re banned, they just can’t seem to find room for you.”

“I do like Jimmy Fallon,” she then said. “I’ve met him a few times, and when I used to do his later show, he was always super nice to me… But I do think it was a bad call for him to have convicted rapist Conor McGregor on.”

“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,” Kathy went on, before referencing Trump’s 2016 appearance on The Tonight Show. She said: “It kind of reminds me of when Fallon had Trump on, and then he petted his hair.”

“I don't know, that didn't sit well with me,” Kathy continued. “I didn't like when Lorne Michaels had him host SNL, you know, when Trump was running. I believe it was during the campaign.”

She then concluded: “I think it's time we make up our minds about who we're going to cancel and who we’re not. Take it from the most canceled celebrity in history, look it up. As the kids say: Do better.”

Kathy captioned the post: “Fallon, what kind of message are we sending here?! AND can we PLEASE save canceling people for the ones who actually deserve it?”

You can watch the video below — as always, let me know your thoughts in the comments!

If you or someone you know has experienced sexual assault, you can call the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673), which routes the caller to their nearest sexual assault service provider. You can also search for your local center here.