Kathy Griffin, who has never shied away from offending people with her humor, has apologized profusely after being pictured with a dummy “decapitated” Donald Trump head.
The picture has been widely panned by both Democrats and Republicans. On Tuesday, Griffin and celebrity photographer Tyler Shields, who snapped the picture, shared it on social media.
In an emotional video posted to Twitter on Tuesday, the comic professed her remorse. “I apologize sincerely — I am only now seeing the reaction to these images,” she said. “I’m a comic, I cross the line — I move the line, then I cross it. I went way too far. The image is too disturbing. I understand how it offends people.”
“It wasn’t funny — I get it,” Griffin added in the video. “I’ve made a lot of mistakes in my career. I will continue. I asked your forgiveness, [I’m] taking down the image, going to ask the photographer to take down the image, and I beg for your forgiveness. I went too far. I made a mistake, and I was wrong.”
“I am sorry,” the celebrity said on Twitter. “I went too far. I was wrong.”
The Secret Service was drawn to the photograph. The Secret Service initially did not mention the image in any of its tweets, but after Twitter users sent the image to its account, the agency responded with, “On it! @SecretService has a robust protective intelligence division that monitors open source reporting & social media to evaluate threats” on Tuesday afternoon.
The agency tweeted an hour later, “Threats made against @SecretService protectees receive the highest priority of all of our investigations. #ProtectionNeverRests.”
Griffin’s CNN co-host on New Year’s Eve, Anderson Cooper, tweeted his disdain of the picture. “For the record, I am appalled by Kathy Griffin’s participation in the photo shoot,” he stated. “It is clearly disgusting and completely inappropriate.”
Griffin said in a gruesome video upload on Twitter, “I caption this ‘there was blood coming out of his eyes, blood coming out of his…wherever’ Also @tylershields great Photog/film maker … OBVIOUSLY, I do not condone ANY violence by my fans or others to anyone, ever! I’m merely mocking the Mocker in Chief.”
This is vile and wrong. It is never funny to joke about killing a president. https://t.co/zIiuKoMyFw
— Chelsea Clinton (@ChelseaClinton) May 30, 2017
Griffin “should be ashamed of herself,” Trump said on Twitter Wednesday morning, adding that his son Barron was “having a hard time with this.”
The “beheading imagery by Griffin about the president was disgusting and inappropriate,” CNN’s Jake Tapper tweeted. Griffin was the host of a CNN New Year’s Eve program.
CNN stated in a statement on Tuesday that it was “evaluating” New Year’s Eve and that no decisions had been made yet. CNN announced on Wednesday afternoon that it has severed relations with Griffin.
According to Shields, who talked with Entertainment Weekly, Griffin and photographer Tyler Shields collaborated to produce a “timely image” reflecting Trump’s leadership and American politics.
“I think to [Griffin], it’s absolutely about [Trump]. I can’t speak for her, obviously,” Shields said when asked what the comedian was trying to communicate with the shot. “I might not agree with him, she definitely doesn’t agree with him, but I’ll defend my right to be able to say whatever I want until I die.”