For much of Tuesday, the country joined in rare collective outrage at the viral image of comedian Kathy Griffin holding aloft a mock bloody severed head of President Trump. Politicos from the left and right side of the spectrum shared a sense of disgust over the image that some equated to promoting violence, while one writer for The Atlantic didn’t have a problem with it. But at roughly eight o’clock PM Eastern time, Griffin finally spoke out about the images and issued an apology.
In a 31 second long video posted to Twitter, Griffin started off by saying that “I sincerely apologize. I’m just now seeing the reaction of these images. 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. I’ve made a lot of mistakes in my career. I will continue,” she added. “I asked 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."
I am sorry. I went too far. I was wrong. pic.twitter.com/LBKvqf9xFB
— Kathy Griffin (@kathygriffin) May 30, 2017
In addition to being a comedian, Griffin is also an employee of CNN. She occasionally is asked to give her opinion, but she’s more known for co-hosting the network’s New Year’s Eve coverage with Anderson Cooper. It took CNN until after nine o’clock Eastern to finally release a statement. In a tweet by CNN’s media reporter Dylan Bryer, the statement 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 time.
Griffin’s New Year’s Eve co-host, Anderson Cooper, also took to Twitter to denounce her actions. “For the record, I am appalled by the photo shoot Kathy Griffin took part in. It is clearly disgusting and completely inappropriate,” he wrote. Cooper did not make any reference to Griffin during his two-hour-long program.
CNN had only aired one story about the mock Trump beheading, which almost seemed forced by Jake Tapper during his show The Lead. Not only did it take CNN several hours to give a statement to the public, but they had also been ducking their own reporters. In an online report written up by CNN’s Sandra Gonzalez, before CNN’s official statement was released, she wrote that “Questions were also raised about whether the photos would affect Griffin's relationship with CNN … CNN has not yet responded to request for comment.”
In a time where the media likes to opine about how President Trump is dividing the country, Griffin managed to unite people around one cause: decency in political satire, if you could even call it that.
Transcript below:
Kathy Griffin Video Tweet
Roughly 8:00 PM EasternKATHY GRIFFIN: Hey everybody, it’s me, Kathy Griffin. I sincerely apologize. I’m just now seeing the reaction of these images. 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. I’ve made a lot of mistakes in my career. I will continue. I asked 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.
