Following controversy, Kathy Griffin set to attend White House Correspondents Dinner

ABCNews.com(WASHINGTON) — Kathy Griffin is set to come face-to-face with a much less bloody President Donald Trump next month — if he shows up anyway.

The controversial comedian and actress tweeted Friday night she would be attending the White House Correspondents Dinner on April 28. Griffin’s comedy career was left in shambles last year after she posed for a photo holding a bloody mannequin head made to look like Trump. After the photo’s release, venues balked at hosting her comedy tour and the rest of its American dates were cancelled. She was also dropped from her annual gig on CNN co-hosting on New Year’s Eve with Anderson Cooper.

Griffin tweeted she would be attending as a guest of the Washington Blade and Los Angeles Blade, an LGBT news outlet.

 The annual White House Correspondents Dinner has been held since 1920, and traditionally features a visit by the current president. Trump, however, broke with that tradition in 2017 by not attending the dinner. The event is held by the White House Correspondents Association, a group of journalists who cover the White House on a daily basis.

The president usually faces a handful of jokes at his expense from the host, followed by his own roast of the reporters in attendance.

Trump, of course, has made mocking the media into an almost-daily event. His cries of “fake news” have become a trademark, both during the election and while in office. He’s already tweeted the phrase 25 times so far in 2018.

He tweeted, “Please wish everyone well and have a great evening!” before last year’s correspondents dinner.

The president has not said whether he’ll attend the dinner in 2018. Comedian Michelle Wolf from “The Daily Show” is set to host.

Griffin was interviewed in a cover story in The Hollywood Reporter in January after spending months out of the spotlight. She spoke about the bloody head incident and talked about a potential comeback.

“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—— kill people,” she told the magazine.

Griffin initially apologized to Trump for the photo, which she posted on social media in May, in a video, saying, “I sincerely apologize. I am just now seeing the reaction to these images. I’m a comic. I crossed the line.” But the comic and actress, known for her roles on the sitcom “Suddenly Susan” and reality show “My Life on the D-List,” retracted the apology in an interview on Australian TV in August, saying, “I am no longer sorry. The whole outrage was B.S.”

At the time, Trump called the photo “sick” and first lady Melania Trump said it “makes you wonder about the mental health of the person who did it.”

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