I imagine a world where, at some point, somebody told Kathy Griffin she was funny as some kind of prank. But, she believed it and has ran with it ever since. Sure, I’m probably not all that funny, either, but I’m not attempting to make a living out of it. Her latest act of “comedy” has landed both Griffin and photographer Tyler Shields in some pretty hot water. The photo, obscured above, shows Griffin holding up a blood covered Donald Trump mask, made to look like a decapitated head. Now, I’m no fan of Trump, either, but this really is just wrong on so many levels. Causing much outrage online, it even provoked a public response from Trump himself – via Twitter, of course. Warning : The complete image in question is shown in the post below
Created along with Griffin by renowned celebrity photography Tyler Shields, the image was first published through TMZ. Shields is known for his rather shocking work, so it’s probably doesn’t come as much of a surprise that he’d shoot something like this. And he’s sticking behind its creation.
TMZ even posted a “behead the scenes” video of the shoot where Griffin joked “We have to move to Mexico today, because we’re going to get prison, federal prison”. TMZ also reports that Trump’s 11 year old son, Barron, was watching TV with his mother, Melania, when the image appeared on the screen. This was the first time he’d seen it, and thought something had happened to his father, according to the report. In an interview with Fox News suggests Shields anticipated the reaction they would receive. The photo drew strong responses online. – Tyler Shields
As outrage grew, Griffin asked Shields to take down the photos. She has also posted a public apology video. https://twitter.com/kathygriffin/status/869703678550171648 “I sincerely apologise”, says Griffin, “I crossed the line […] I went way too far. The image is disturbing. I understand how it offends people […] I beg for your forgiveness. I went too far, I made a mistake and I was wrong”. Of course, not everybody’s convinced.
Politics aside, it’s pretty sick. No matter how you feel about somebody, even somebody as public as Trump, the guy has an 11 year old kid. Regardless of how “privileged” you may think that child is, they really don’t need to see photos like this of their parents. [via TMZ]
