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CNN fires Kathy Griffin for bloody Trump photo

Posted at 2:17 PM, May 31, 2017
and last updated 2017-05-31 14:17:20-04

LOS ANGELES — Kathy Griffin will not be back as co-host of CNN’s annual New Year’s Eve program, the network announced Wednesday.

CNN’s decision comes one day after photos were released of Griffin that showed the comedian holding up a bloody head resembling that of President Donald Trump.

“CNN has terminated our agreement with Kathy Griffin to appear on our New Year’s Eve program,” the network said in a statement.

Griffin has apologized for the photos, taken by provocative celebrity photographer Tyler Shields.

“I beg for your forgiveness. I went too far,” she said in a video posted to Instagram late Tuesday. “I made a mistake and I was wrong.”

Admitted the images was “too disturbing,” Griffin said she asked Shields to take down the photo.

Griffin has co-hosted CNN’s annual New Year’s Eve program alongside Anderson Cooper since 2007.

Kathy Griffin yells at Ryan Seacrest from the media riser while Anderson Cooper restrains her during New Year’s Eve 2017 in Times Square at Times Square on December 31, 2016 in New York City. (Photo by Theo Wargo/Getty Images)

On Tuesday night, a CNN spokesperson called the photos “disgusting and offensive.”

Shields, who is know for his envelope-pushing images, released the photos on Tuesday morning and swiftly came under fire by people on social media.

Trump said in a Tweet on Wednesday that Griffin “should be ashamed of herself.”

“My children, especially my 11 year old son, Barron, are having a hard time with this,” he wrote. “Sick!”

The president’s son, Donald Trump Jr, and First Lady Melania Trump also weighed in.

Chelsea Clinton, daughter of Trump’s one-time campaign rival Hillary Clinton, called the photo “vile and wrong.”

“It is never funny to joke about killing a president,” she wrote on Twitter.

In an initial statement, Griffin said she “did not condone ANY violence” by her fans or others.

“I’m merely mocking the Mocker in Chief,” she said in a Tweet of defense. It was later deleted.

Griffin, an outspoken critic of Trump, likely knew the images would draw some negative attention.

In a behind-the-scenes video posted by Shields that has since been removed, Griffin can be heard joking with Shields about moving to Mexico after the images were released.

“We’re not surviving this, okay?” she said in the footage.