President Donald Trump said Wednesday leftwing comedian Kathy Griffin “should be ashamed of herself” for posing with his bloody, severed head in a widely-condemned photo.
“Kathy Griffin should be ashamed of herself. My children, especially my 11 year old son, Barron, are having a hard time with this. Sick!” Trump tweeted Wednesday morning.
TMZ first obtained the photo, taken by photographer Tyler Shields, on Tuesday and published a short video of Griffin posing with Trump’s severed head. “This is fake blood, just so you know. I won’t give away what we’re doing, but Tyler and I are not afraid to do images that make noise,” Griffin said on the tape. The beheading video was inspired by Trump insulting former Fox News host Megyn Kelly, Griffin told a blogger.
“I caption this ‘there was blood coming out of his eyes, blood coming out of his…wherever’ Also @tylershields great Photog/film maker,” Griffin tweeted on Tuesday. “OBVIOUSLY, I do not condone ANY violence by my fans or others to anyone, ever! I’m merely mocking the Mocker in Chief.”
After an explosive backlash, Griffin deleted her tweets and posted an Instagram video saying she “went way too far.”
“I’m a comic,” she said. “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. I’ve made a lot of mistakes in my career, I will continue.”
CNN called the beheading photo “disgusting” but did not definitely state Griffin would be prevented from co-hosting New Year’s Eve coverage.
“We found what she did disgusting and offensive. We are pleased to see she has apologized and asked that the photos be taken down. We are evaluating our New Year’s Eve coverage and have made no decisions at this point,” CNN said in a statement.
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