Comedian Kathy Griffin apologises for 'severed Donald Trump head' image
Criticism from across the political spectrum came from Chelsea Clinton and Donald Trump Jr.
US comedian Kathy Griffin has been forced to “beg” for forgiveness after clutching what appeared to be Donald Trump’s bloody, severed head.
After a barrage of criticism, the stand-up comedian and actress backtracked on Tuesday, saying she now knows she went “way too far”.
Outrage over the photo shoot and a 12-second video clip came from the US president’s son, Donald Trump Jr, as well as Chelsea Clinton, the daughter of election opponent Hillary.
Griffin, 56, posted a video on Twitter in which she “sincerely apologised”.
“I’m just now seeing the reaction of these images. I’m a comic, I crossed the line. I moved the line and then I crossed it. I went way too far,” she said.
“The image is too disturbing.I understand how it affects people. It wasn’t funny, I get it.
“I beg for your forgiveness.”
She said she would ask photographer Tyler Shields to remove their collaboration from the web. He later deleted the video from YouTube.
The junior Trump tweeted: “Disgusting but not surprising. This is the left today. They consider this acceptable.
“Imagine a conservative did this to Obama as POTUS (President Of The United States)?”
The US Secret Service, which protects current a former leaders, tweeted that it monitored social media to “evaluate threats”.
Ahead of the controversy, Griffin joked with Shields in a video that they would have to move to Mexico to avoid federal prison.
In since deleted tweets, she said: “I do not condone ANY violence by my fans or others to anyone, ever! I’m merely mocking the Mocker in Chief.”
Griffin said the image was a reference to Mr Trump’s comments about former Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly.
In the run-up to the election, Mr Trump was roundly criticised for saying that the journalist had “blood coming out of her eyes, blood coming out of her wherever”.
