After much delay, photographer Tyler Shields’ new project is finally seeing the light of day after backlash from the infamous photo he took of Kathy Griffin holding a severed dummy-head of President Donald Trump allegedly sparked a Secret Service investigation.
The Blast reports that sources close to Shields say at the time the Trump photo was released last May, he was working on a YouTube Red documentary called Tyler Shields Provacateur. But some of the response to the photo was so negative (he reportedly received multiple death threats) that he didn’t leave his house for three weeks. Shields was also worried he’d be taken in for questioning over the pictorial by authorities like Griffin was.
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Shields reportedly noticed an unmarked black vehicle parked outside his home for “weeks,” according to The Blast. He reportedly approached the vehicle and was informed they were Secret Service agents.
During his self-issued lockdown, Shields paused on all scheduled work for the documentary like photo shoots, interviews and editing; he even had to replace the doc’s editor after he took another job during the delay.
Eventually, Shields picked the project back up after he was never called in for questioning. He finished the doc, which premieres Thursday on YouTube Red and has resumed his normal life.
Griffin, too, is back in the spotlight after she says practically no one was supportive of her bloody attempt to stay relevant in the public eye. In an in-depth interview with The Hollywood Reporter, she said even her close friends and family disagreed with the publicity stunt.
“When you’re in between gigs and trying to stay on the map, you have to think of ways to stay in the spotlight,” Griffin told THR, adding that another shot she and Shields brainstormed was her in a bikini by a pool doing her “best Kim Kardashian,” but then they began pitching ideas of images that “would f— with Trump,” and collaborated on a decapitation theme.
The FBI got involved, determining that Griffin was under “credible threat” and offered her a tutorial on how to deal with the hate mail.
“There’s a pile that we think is harmless,” she explained of the system. “And a pile that’s questionable. And then there’s a pile that the FBI says you put in a Ziploc bag and give to them. That’s my life now.”
While her relationship with the FBI remains amicable, Griffin isn’t too keen on the Secret Service, which was required to investigate whether she was a threat to POTUS.
One of the Secret Service investigators asked her if she kept any weapons in her home.
“I said, ‘No. Oh, well, I have a sword. It’s huge,’” she recalled. “And my lawyers looked at me like, ‘What are you doing?’ The agents got very interested and were like, ‘What is it for?’ And I was like, ‘It’s not for anything. I got it when I hosted the Gay Porn Awards.’ And I have to say, the guy smirked. He was like, ‘Tell me more about the sword.’ I was like, ‘Well, it’s big. You know the gays.’ And then it was like, ‘No more sword-asking questions.’”
Griffin still maintains that she doesn’t deserve the swift backlash that came her way after offering up an image of an assassinated president of the United States.
“I didn’t commit a crime. I didn’t rape anybody. I didn’t assault anybody. I didn’t get a DUI. I mean, my God, there are celebrities that f—ing kill people,” Griffin lamented of her alleged blacklisting from the industry. “The minute I do something that makes money, they will all love me again. When I’m dead, I’ll be a legend. But not now.”
