CNN Terminates Agreement With Kathy Griffin Appearing On New Year’s Eve Program

CNN is terminating Kathy Griffin’s contract to appear on the network’s New Year’s Eve program following the comedienne’s controversial Donald Trump beheading photo.

On Wednesday morning, CNN took to Twitter to announce: “CNN has terminated our agreement with Kathy Griffin to appear on our New Year’s Eve program.”

After the gory image showing Kathy Griffin holding a bloody, decapitated Donald Trump surfaced on the Internet on Tuesday, she received heavy backlash from many of her fans, followers, and critics alike. She took to Twitter on Tuesday night to issue an apology in a brief video.

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“Hey everybody, it’s me, Kathy Griffin,” she says in the video. “I sincerely apologize. I am just now seeing the reaction to these images. I’m a comic. I crossed the line. I move the line. 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.

Griffin continued by saying: “I’ve made a lot of mistakes in my career. I will continue. I ask your forgiveness. Taking down the image. I am 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.”

After CNN announced that Kathy Griffin’s contract was terminated, the network was met by a swift reaction on social media. Thousands of Twitter users responded to the news. Check out some of the most heated responses below:

As for President Donald Trump, he has also spoken out about the issue. He took to Twitter on Tuesday night to share his reaction.

The former Apprentice star tweeted: “Kathy Griffin should be ashamed of herself. My children, especially my 11 year old son, Barron, are having a hard time with this. Sick!”

[H/T Twitter: CNN, Getty /Noam Galai