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Kathy Griffin on Clay Aiken: "He Was Not Very Nice"

All about the loudmouth funnylady's not-so-pleasant visit with the man she loves to call "Gayken"

By Marc Malkin Dec 04, 2008 8:02 PMTags
Kathy Griffin, Clay AikenAP Photo/Matt Sayles; Amy Sussman/Getty Images

Kathy Griffin really wants to be friends with Clay Aiken, but it doesn't sound like the American Idol warbler wants anything to do with her.

The loudmouth comedian says she tried to make good with Aiken—whom she pegged "Gayken" in her standup act long before he came out of the closet—backstage during Rosie O'Donnell's Thanksgiving variety show.

Read on for the not-so-pleasant details.

"I held up one of those ghetto blasters playing one of Clay's songs, and I begged him to take me back and he said no," Griffin said at last night's Grammy nomination concert in downtown L.A. "And then I walked out of the room and Gloria Estefan said to me, 'I told ya—you shouldn't have gone in there alone.' "

Griffin said she was, at the very least, hoping for some sort of thank-you or acknowledgement for her role in helping him come out. "There were no words of thanks or even really any words at all, for that matter," Griffin said. "I would have to say he was not very nice."

Oh, Clay! You should have been nicer, 'cause you know Griffin's Gayken schtick is now going to get nastier than ever.

—Additional reporting by Dahvi Shira