Kathy Griffin says she is receiving death threats over her photo shoot in which she posed with the likeness of President Donald Trump's severed head.
Griffin says the photo and video shoot were motivated by Trump's comments in August 2015 about then-Fox News Channel anchor Megyn Kelly. Trump referred to blood coming out of her eyes and other parts of her body.
The 56-year-old comedian said those statements prompted her to pose with the Trump severed head, which was a mask mounted on a Styrofoam wig mould.
Griffin and her attorneys appeared at a free-wheeling news conference Friday morning in which Griffin cried and again apologized for the shoot. Griffin grew more combative as the news conference went on and said she had nothing to say to Trump's wife, Melania, or his young son, Barron.
Attorney Dmitry Gorin, who is a criminal lawyer representing Griffin in a Secret Service investigation, said the shoot was parody and the comedian did nothing wrong. He said Griffin is co-operating with the agency.
Tyler Shields/Twitter
Griffin apologized within hours of the images appearing online. They were met with swift and widespread condemnation.
Trump later 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!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 31, 2017
The 56-year-old comic has faced controversies before for her abrasive humour, but none as widespread as the one generated by Tuesday's images.