Griffin apologises for severed Trump head photo after backlash
COMEDIAN Kathy Griffin said she was “not afraid to do images that make noise.” But the picture of her holding a prop of President Donald Trump’s severed head would lead to an apology after criticism came from the president’s son, a Clinton, and many more.
In a video posted on Twitter and Instagram, Griffi n said that she crossed the line and that the image was too disturbing.
“I sincerely apologise I am just now seeing the reaction of these images,” she said of the picture fi rst published by TMZ.
She tweeted: I am sorry. I went too far. I was wrong.
Griffi n had shared the image in now- deleted tweets.
The photo was shot by photographer Tyler Shields. Griffi n said she has asked him to take down the images.
Criticism came from both conservatives and liberal figures, including Donald Trump Jr., who called the picture “disgusting but not surprising.”
Former Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney weighed in also, saying that politics “have become too base, too low, & too vulgar, but Kathy Griffi n’s post descends
I sincerely apologise I am just now seeing the reaction of these images. I am a comic, I cross the line I move the line and then I cross it. I went too far. The image is too disturbing. I understand how it offends people. It wasn’t funny. I get it. Kathy
Griffin, comedian
into an even more repugnant & vile territory.”
But even people who do not usually defend Trump expressed repulsion at the image.
Chelsea Clinton tweeted: This is vile and wrong. It is never funny to joke about killing a president.
And Debra Messing tweeted: It wasn’t right when people hung lynched Obama effi gies, just as what Kathy Griffi n did isn’t right now.
CNN, where Griffi n is a co-host for the network’s New Year’s Eve programme, said in a statement characterised the pictures as “disgusting and offensive,” adding that it is “evaluating our New Year’s coverage.”
Shields, the photographer, told the New York Daily News that “When you make art, you can do anything you want.” In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Shields, the photographer, said that he and Griffi n had discussed doing something and she told him, “I’m not afraid to get political if you want or make a statement if you want.” He told the New York Daily News that “When you make art, you can do anything you want.”
Here is Griffi n’s apology in full:
I sincerely apologise I am just now seeing the reaction of these images. I am a comic, I cross the line I move the line and then I cross it. I went 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. I ask your forgiveness. 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.