Kathy Griffin shocks in gory photo shoot with Trump’s (fake) head

Comedian Kathy Griffin and photographer Tyler Shields may have pulled off the impossible with the creation of a gory photo that’s spurring outrage on both sides of the political aisle.
The picture, featuring Griffin wearing a navy pussy-bow blouse and holding aloft a bloodied imitation of President Trump’s decapitated head, was first published Tuesday morning by TMZ.

Griffin herself shared the video from the shoot on her Twitter feed, while referencing Trump’s comments toward Megyn Kelly during the Republican presidential debates.

“I caption this ‘there was blood coming out of his eyes, blood coming out of his ... wherever,’” Griffin wrote, quickly following it with a tweet that clarified that she didn’t condone violence toward the president and was only mocking him.

Internet reaction to the vivid photo was immediate, with many condemning Shields and Griffin for exacerbating an atmosphere of violence some believe has already been established by Trump.

Griffin later tweeted a video apology in which she asked that the image be taken down.

“I beg for your forgiveness,” Griffin says in a 30-second video posted on social media. “I went too far.”

Griffin’s “New Year’s Eve Live” co-host Anderson Cooper tweeted that he found the display “disgusting,” and CNN released a statement as well, saying: “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 New Year’s Eve and have made no decisions at this point.”

At first, both Shields and Griffin seem unfazed by the reaction, as the latter retweeted many critical comments.

Implications of violence are generally considered a step beyond in modern political discourse; outrage was the response Ted Nugent when he called for then-President Obama and Hillary Clinton to be tried and hanged, and when then-candidate Trump made reference on the campaign trail to “Second Amendment people” stopping Clinton.