CNN Cuts Ties With Kathy Griffin Over Photo Depicting Her With Mock Severed Head Of Donald Trump
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- CNN is cutting ties with comedian Kathy Griffin after an image posted on social media Tuesday showed her holding what looked like the bloody, severed head of President Donald Trump.
The photo sparked outrage online and rebukes from Trump and First Lady Melania Trump.
Griffin apologized.
"I sincerely apologize," Griffin said in a video apology on Twitter. "I'm just now seeing the reaction of these images. I'm a comic. I crossed the line. I moved the line then I crossed 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 went on to say she's made a lot of mistakes in her career and begged for forgiveness.
The president said Griffin "should be ashamed of herself."
"My children, especially my 11 year old son, Barron, are having a hard time with this. Sick!" Trump wrote on Twitter.
First Lady Melania Trump also spoke out against the photo.
"As a mother, a wife, and a human being, that photo is very disturbing," Melania Trump said. "When you consider some of the atrocities happening in the world today, a photo opportunity like this is simply wrong and makes you wonder about the mental health of the person who did it."
Anderson Cooper, who has worked with Griffin on CNN's New Year's Eve coverage, also blasted the photo.
"For the record, I am appalled by the photo shoot Kathy Griffin took part in. It is clearly disgusting and completely inappropriate," he wrote on Twitter.
The image has since been removed, but it caught the attention of the Secret Service.
The agency tweeted that threats made against someone the agency protects receives the highest priority.
Former First Daughter Chelsea Clinton also chimed in, calling Griffin's attempt at humor "vile and wrong."
The beheading photo backlash has cost Griffin an endorsement deal, CBS2's Tony Aiello reported.
The image was part of a project with photographer Tyler Shields that Griffin originally described as "artsy fartsy statement'' mocking Trump.
Many on Twitter called for Griffin to be jailed.
