Maria Puente

USA TODAY

Kathy Griffin, who has never been shy about provoking people with her comedy, is now abjectly apologizing for being photographed holding a mock "decapitated" head of Donald Trump.

After her many critics, on the right and the left, responded with outrage, Griffin took to Twitter to beg for forgiveness.

"Hey everybody, it’s me, Kathy Griffin. I sincerely apologize. I’m just now seeing the reaction of 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. I've made a lot of mistakes in my career, I will continue. I ask for your forgiveness. Taking down the image. I’m 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."

Griffin posted this late Tuesday after a flood of tweets responded to the image, mentioning these sorts of sentiments: She's "pure evil!" She's a "dumb idiot!" She's "not funny!"

CNN was none too pleased. (Griffin co-hosts the annual New Year's Eve broadcast with CNN's Anderson Cooper.)

"We found what she did disgusting and offensive," read a statement sent by CNN spokesperson Shimrit Sheetrit. "We are pleased to see she has apologized and asked that the photos be taken down."

Late Tuesday, the network said it would reevaluate the New Year’s Eve broadcast; by midday Wednesday, CNN announced via tweet that it had "terminated" its agreement with Griffin to co-host the program.

Even the U.S. Secret Service said it would look into what Griffin first called an expression of art.

But what was the point of her photo shoot with Tyler Shields, a self-described artist photographer famous for edgy imagery? He posted a YouTube video of his shoot with Griffin, in which she declines to explain much about what they're doing or why they're doing it.

In it, Griffin, wearing a blue dress, is shown holding up a "head," streaked with what appears to be blood, of President Trump by the hair. At one point, she drops it. At another point, she jokes to Shields that they're going to have to run away to Mexico after the images go public.

"I won't give away what we're doing but Tyler and I are not afraid to do images that make noise," she says in the video clip, in which she praises Shields for making her look like she's 15. (She's 56.) "But first I'm an artist. But it's good lighting."

The images were published by TMZ on Tuesday, ahead of the official release.

Representatives for Griffin did not return emails from USA TODAY seeking comment.

Initially, Griffin tweeted that she does not condone violence and was merely "mocking the Mocker in Chief."

She also tweeted a video clip of the photo shoot, and praised Shields.

On Twitter, the blowback against her was immediate and excoriating. President Trump did not respond but his eldest son, Donald Trump Jr, did, tweeting: "Disgusting but not surprising. This is the left today. They consider this acceptable. Imagine a conservative did this to Obama as POTUS?" On Wednesday, Trump Jr tweeted that he considered Griffin's apology "phony."

Chelsea Clinton was just as disgusted, tweeting: "This is vile and wrong. It is never funny to joke about killing a president."

The Secret Service tweeted they were on the case, noting its "robust protective intelligence division that monitors open source reporting & social media to evaluate threats."

Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn., a former Saturday Night Live comedian who has received thousands in political donations from Griffin since 2011, is scheduled to do an event with her on July 7 in Los Angeles tied to his latest book tour. He did not say whether that event would be canceled but he was not pleased with Griffin, according to a statement he released through press secretary Michael Dale-Stein in Washington.

"Sen. Franken thinks Kathy Griffin is a talented comedian and respects her right to free speech, but believes this image was inappropriate and not the kind of thing that should be part of our national discourse," the statement said.

And former Rep. Gabby Giffords, the Arizona Democrat who was nearly killed by a gunman in her Tucson district in 2011 (and went on to found a gun violence-prevention group, Americans for Responsible Solutions), issued a statement late Tuesday, calling Griffin's photo "revolting."

"We can disagree with someone for what they believe and how they do their job, but we should never threaten them with violence. This image is vile and uncalled for. Words matter, and pictures are worth thousands of words," her statement said.

Meanwhile, many tweets urged people to denounce Griffin to CNN's advertisers and demanded the news network disavow her.

She was compared to a terrorist. She was denounced as unfunny. She was derided as stupid, tasteless and irrelevant.

Many people called for her head, demanded investigations, and used her to condemn all liberals and leftists. The words "evil" and "satanic" were frequently mentioned.

And there were some cynical tweets: