CNN has dropped Kathy Griffin from its live New Year’s Eve show because the comic posed for a photo with what appears to be the bloody, severed head of US President Donald Trump.
Since 2007, Griffin had teamed with Anderson Cooper to host an unpredictable show filled with her antics from New York City’s Times Square.
‘CNN has terminated our agreement with Kathy Griffin to appear on our New Year’s Eve program,’ the network said in a statement today.
CNN had quickly called the photo ‘disgusting and offensive’ when it surfaced on Tuesday (30 May) and said then it was evaluating its relationship with Griffin.
Cooper, who is friends with Griffin, was quick to voice his disapproval of what she had done.
‘For the record, I am appalled by the photo shoot Kathy Griffin took part in,’ the 49-year-old Cooper tweeted. ‘It is clearly disgusting and completely inappropriate.’
There was growing pressure on CNN from Trump supporters, including Donald Trump Jr., to fire Griffin.
She had quickly apologized for the photos once she realized the depth of the backlash.
They were 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.’
