[VARIETY] CNN has fired Kathy Griffin from their annual New Year’s Eve program, which she cohosted with anchor Anderson Cooper.The network made the announcement via Twitter Wednesday morning.
"CNN has terminated our agreement with Kathy Griffin to appear on our New Year’s Eve program," the CNN Public Relations account tweeted.
The termination comes one day after the comedienne posted a photo and video of her holding a fake severed head of President Donald Trump
...New York real estate developer, described by Dems as illiterate, racist, misogynistic, and what ever other unpleasant descriptions they can think of, elected by the rest of us as 45th President of the United States...
. She later apologized for the photo and video, saying it went too far, and removed it from her Twitter account. She had made it as part of a photo shoot with Tyler Shields, but they did not disclose what the project was.
Trump tweeted about the photo early on Wednesday, writing that Griffin "should be ashamed of herself."
"My children, especially my 11-year-old son Barron, are having a hard time with this. Sick!"
CNN issued a statement on Tuesday night, condemning Griffin’s video and saying that they were evaluating New Year’s Eve plans.
While that date is far away, the network was under pressure to take action. Trump’s son, Donald Trump Jr., tweeted at Jake Tapper.
Anderson Cooper, who has co-hosted the New Year’s Eve telecasts with Griffin for the past decade, said that he was "appalled by the photo shoot Kathy Griffin took part in. It is clearly disgusting and completely inappropriate."
Before she issued her apology, Griffin said that she was in no way condoning violence, but that it was "merely mocking the MOCKER IN CHIEF."
Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) he condemned Griffin’s video, and told CNN, "I think she did the right thing, and asking for forgiveness and acknowledging ... this was a horrible mistake."
But the Republican National Committee has noted that Franken is still scheduled to appear with Griffin at a July 7 event at the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts in Beverly Hills. Franken said that he still plans to appear with her.
Franken: I'm keeping Kathy Griffin event because 'she begged for forgiveness'
[TheHill] They are birds of a noxious feather...
| Update from the Daily Mail at 6:39 p.m. EDT: |
Other venues are still considering axing her show after a flood of complaints.
