Kathy Griffin says she's 'banned' from 'Tonight Show' for being 'controversial'

Kathy Griffin appears to believe she's been "banned" from "The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon" for being "too inappropriate."

The comedian, 65, shared her thoughts in a June 30 Instagram post while promoting her Talk Your Head Off series on YouTube. Griffin said she had not appeared on a Jimmy Fallon-hosted show "since it was on at 12:30 Eastern and Pacific" time.

"I guess I'm banned from the Fallon show for [being] inappropriate or too controversial," she said. "I don't even know. When you're banned from a show... they don't usually tell you you're banned. They just can't seem to find room for you."

She appeared to be referring to Fallon's former NBC series, "Late Night With Jimmy Fallon," which aired at 12:35 a.m. ET from 2009 to 2014. Fallon moved to "The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon" in 2014, which airs at 11:35 p.m. ET.

One of Griffin's most recent appearances on "The Tonight Show" came in 2013, when Jay Leno was host.

A source with knowledge of the situation told USA TODAY there is no ban on Griffin.

Griffin also clarified that she has a good relationship with Fallon. "He's always super-nice to me," she said.

Griffin went on to criticize the show for booking MMA fighter Conor McGregor, saying it was a "bad call" to have him on as a guest. She referred to McGregor as a "convicted rapist," though the fighter was found liable for assault in a civil case stemming from a 2018 sexual assault allegation and has maintained his innocence.

McGregor has not been criminally convicted of rape.

"I think 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," Griffin said. "The perpetrators are still gonna be out there being glorified."

She also compared the booking to Donald Trump's 2016 appearance on the show, when Fallon "petted" the future president's hair.

"That didn't sit well with me," she said.

What was Conor McGregor found liable for?

A woman alleged that McGregor "brutally raped and battered" her at a Dublin hotel in 2018. Authorities investigated the claims, but he was not criminally charged.

A civil jury later found the MMA fighter liable for assault and ordered him to pay more than $250,000 in damages. McGregor said that his encounter with the woman was "consensual."

In a social media post, he wrote: "Everything that happened that night was consensual and all the witnesses present swore to that under oath."

One of McGregor's most recent sexual assault allegations was in 2023, when he was accused of sexually assaulting and battering a woman after Game 4 of the NBA Finals in Miami.

"The allegations are false. Mr. McGregor will not be intimidated," McGregor's attorney, Barbara R. Llanes, said in a statement released through McGregor's public relations firm to USA TODAY Sports at the time.

Prosecutors later declined to file criminal charges.