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Comedian Kathy Griffin says she went way too far when she appeared in a brief video on Tuesday holding what looked like President Donald Trump's bloody, severed head.
The Emmy and Grammy-winning comedian posted a video apologising for the video image, saying it was "too disturbing" and wasn't funny.
"I sincerely apologise," she said.
"I went way too far. The image is too disturbing. I understand how it offends people."
The first video, since removed from YouTube, showed a straight-faced Griffin slowly lifting the bloody head.
She originally described the project with photographer Tyler Shields as an "artsy fartsy statement" mocking the commander in chief.
She tweeted "I caption this 'there was blood coming out of his eyes, blood coming out of his … wherever," referencing an infamous exchange between Donald Trump and former Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly during Mr Trump's campaign for the Republican nomination in 2015.
Griffin followed up with another tweet saying "OBVIOUSLY, I do not condone ANY violence by my fans or others to anyone, ever! I'm merely mocking the Mocker in Chief".
In a behind-the-scenes video also later removed from YouTube, Griffin was shown joking: "We have to move to Mexico today, but we're going to go to prison — federal prison … We're not surviving this, OK?"
Her tweets have since been deleted.
Unfortunately, the federal law-enforcement agency tasked with protecting current and former national leaders did not agree that the photo shoot was "merely mocking".
After Twitter users tweeted images to @SecretService, the account replied "On it!" and added they monitor social media to evaluate threats.
An hour later, they followed up by saying threats made against their protectees receive the highest priority.
Many online called for Griffin to be jailed. Mr Trump's son Donald Trump Jr said it was "disgusting but not surprising. This is the left today".
Former Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney said the video "descends into an even more repugnant and vile territory" than the current too-vulgar state of politics.
There were attacks from both sides of politics, with Chelsea Clinton, daughter of former president Bill Clinton and presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, calling it "vile and wrong".
Actress Debra Messing compared the images to when people hung lynched effigies of former president Barack Obama, while actress Alyssa Milano told Griffin, "I have to believe you're smart enough to know better".
In her apology video, Griffin begs her fans for forgiveness and says she had asked Shields to remove the images.
"I made a mistake and I was wrong," she said.
Publicists for Griffin and Shields did not respond to requests for comment.
The images had been removed from Shields' blog this morning, leaving other images from the photo shoot of Griffin posing in a black vinyl leotard and thigh-high boots.
The post was still tagged "Blood" and "Trump".
ABC/AP
Topics: arts-and-entertainment, donald-trump, us-elections, world-politics, united-states
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