Kathy Griffin apologizes over beheaded Trump photo: ‘I went too far’

Comedian Kathy Griffin issued an apology on Tuesday evening after widespread backlash over her posing for a photo holding a severed fake head resembling President Trump.

“I sincerely apologize,” Griffin said in a 31-second video posted to Twitter.

“I’m a comic. I crossed the line — I move the line and 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,” she said.

“I’ve made a lot of mistakes in my career. I’ll continue,” Griffin, 56, continued.

“I asked your forgiveness. Taking down the image, 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.”

{mosads}Griffin posted for photographer Tyler Shields for the photo, which was first published by TMZ. The comedian had defended the image on Twitter earlier Tuesday, saying she was “mocking the Mocker-in-Chief” and did not “condone ANY violence by my fans or others to anyone.”

“I caption this ‘there was blood coming out of his eyes, blood coming out of his…wherever,’ ” she initially tweeted, referring to Trump’s campaign trail comments after a debate co-moderated by then-Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly. Griffin included a video of the photo shoot.

Kathy Griffin Beheads Donald Trump in Shocking Photo Shoot (PHOTO) https://t.co/fiFHQAYfQs

— TMZ (@TMZ) May 30, 2017

The image prompted outcry from across the political spectrum, with figures such as Chelsea Clinton and 2012 GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney condemning it on Twitter.

Our politics have become too base, too low, & too vulgar, but Kathy Griffin’s post descends into an even more repugnant & vile territory.

— Mitt Romney (@MittRomney) May 30, 2017

This is vile and wrong. It is never funny to joke about killing a president. https://t.co/zIiuKoMyFw

— Chelsea Clinton (@ChelseaClinton) May 30, 2017

Trump’s eldest son, Donald Jr., also slammed the image, calling it “disgusting but not surprising.” 

Disgusting but not surprising. This is the left today. They consider this acceptable. Imagine a conservative did this to Obama as POTUS? https://t.co/QdghcbIjS7

— Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) May 30, 2017

Will @CNN keep putting her on air for things like the New Years celebration??? https://t.co/jaFmULmboZ

— Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) May 30, 2017

The image and online backlash also appeared to garner a response from the U.S. Secret Service, which posted a general notice maintaining that “threats made against @SecretService protectees receive the highest priority of all of our investigations.”

On it! @SecretService has a robust protective intelligence division that monitors open source reporting & social media to evaluate threats

— U.S. Secret Service (@SecretService) May 30, 2017

Threats made against @SecretService protectees receive the highest priority of all of our investigations. #ProtectionNeverRests

— U.S. Secret Service (@SecretService) May 30, 2017