Griffin’s gruesome stunt earns rebukes
Comic apologizes for bloody video holding ‘severed head’ of president
Comic Kathy Griffin grabbed headlines with a gruesome stunt — tweeting a video of herself holding a bloodied mock-up of President Trump’s severed head — but then apologized, admitting it was tasteless and unfunny.
“I went way too far,” Griffin said in her apology video she posted late yesterday, admitting the creepy gag was “too disturbing” and not funny.
“OBVIOUSLY, I do not condone ANY violence by my fans or others to anyone, ever! I’m merely mocking the Mocker in Chief,” Griffin said in an earlier tweet which she then deleted and replaced with the apology video.
The weird act drew the attention of the Secret Service, which acknowledged it is investigating the matter.
It lit up the internet — even drawing fire from the left, which has been slow to condemn violent anti-Trump protests and rhetoric.
“This is vile and wrong,” tweeted former first daughter Chelsea Clinton. “It is never funny to joke about killing a president.”
Esquire writer Luke O’Neil tweeted, “HELLO IT IS I THE SPOKESMAN FOR THE MEDIA LEFT HERE TO SAY THE KATHY GRIFFIN THING SUCKS AND... IS BAD.”
Donald Trump Jr. tweeted, “Disgusting but not surprising. This is the left today. They consider this acceptable. Imagine a conservative did this to Obama as POTUS?”
In the initial video, Griffin bragged that she and photographer Tyler Shields “are not afraid to do images that make noise,” and they high-five each other.
The first video shows a straight-faced Griffin slowly lifting the bloody head, then smirking. She originally described the project with Shields as an “artsy fartsy statement” mocking the commander in chief.
But after the uproar, she said in a second video, “I sincerely apologize. I am just now seeing the reaction of [sic] these images. 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. I’ve made a lot of mistakes in my career. I will continue. I asked your forgiveness, and I’m gonna 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.”
Numerous tweeters asked if CNN would dump Griffin from her New Year’s Eve hosting gig with Anderson Cooper. In a statement last night, CNN said, “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.”
Publicists for Griffin and Shields did not respond to requests for comment.