Kathy Griffin has blasted Giuliana Rancic for her joke about Zendaya's dreadlocks.

Kathy Griffin

Kathy Griffin

The 'Fashion Police' presenter has been widely criticised for suggesting the actress' Oscar-night hairstyle suggested she smelt like "patchouli oil" or "weed" - and her co-host believes the fault lies with Giuliana not writing her own material.

Kathy - who replaced Joan Rivers following her death in September last year - said: "I wouldn't have said the joke in the first place. Some dude wrote it for her.

"Don't have anyone write you jokes or even suggest jokes for you on 'Fashion Police'."

The comedienne claimed there was no need for her co-panelist to resort to such inappropriate jokes, not least because the E! show has access to so much insider gossip.

She explained: "You have enough great insider gossip from actually being on the red carpet. That's what fans want to hear the next day. Just talk and be yourself."

The 54-year-old entertainer said her approach to comedy is always to "go for the laugh, be as inappropriate as possible but also change with the times".

She told the Chicago Sun Times newspaper: "I will make my Miley Cyrus jokes as long as people want to laugh at them.

"But there is a chasm of difference between making a joke about Miley Cyrus wearing duct tape over her nipples out in public - which I think is totally fair game - and simply looking at a photo of her on a red carpet and saying she is ugly or a bad singer or pathetic or something like that."

'Fashion Police' co-host Kelly Osbourne quit the show shortly after the controversy erupted, but Kathy insists she doesn't know whether the two incidents were linked.

She said: "Jesus, I don't know! Sometimes she seemed very upset at the merely seven tapings of 'Fashion Police' we did together."