Kathy Griffin, a co-host of CNN’s annual New Year’s Eve program, has been fired, the network announced on Wednesday.
The comedian did a photo shoot holding a bloody head resembling United States 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 however 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.”
Admitting the images were “too disturbing,” Griffin said she asked Shields to take down the photo.
The U.S. Secret Service, responsible for presidential security, has opened an inquiry into the posting of Griffin posing with the severed-head replica, a spokesman in Los Angeles said.
When asked whether the agency was looking into the incident as a potential threat on the president’s life.
“We’re aware of it and we’re investigating it,” the spokesman, George Fernandez, told Reuters.
