Kathy Griffin Says She’s ‘Completely Exonerated’ For Severed Trump Head Photo

By Erik Pedersen, Deadline
Published July 29, 2017, 11:14 a.m. ET

Kathy Griffin, who caused a firestorm in May after a doing a photo shoot that showed her holding a fake severed head that resembled President Donald Trump, tweet today that the federal probe into the incident is “closed” and that she has been “completely exonerated.” [See below]

The reference to the Associated Press is regarding its weekly feature about fake news stories. The wire service had tweeted about the false reports that had circulated online, but Griffin said the AP needed to “clarify” its post.

This looks like the end of a story that began with a bruohaha over a clip and photos that showed the comic holding a blood-dripping fake severed head that looked a lot like POTUS 45 (watch the clip here). A stinging, bipartisan backlash erupted immediately, and Griffin was forced to apologize. But the hits kept comin’, and Trump himself tweeted that she “should be ashamed.” Later that same day, May 31, CNN fired Griffin from her 10-year gig as co-host of its New Year’s Eve coverage with Anderson Cooper.

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Kathy Griffin Was Interrogated by the Secret Service for an Hour Over Her Controversial Trump Photo

Two days later, during a clumsy and poorly received press conference alongside attorney Lisa Bloom, Griffin alternately was defiant and tearful and said the Secret Service was investigating the case and that Trump “broke me.” She said the photos were inspired by Trump’s comments about then-Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly after the first televised GOP debate, when he said Kelly had “blood coming out of her eyes, blood coming out of her wherever.”