Trump says comic Kathy Griffin 'should be ashamed' for graphic video gag

U.S. President Donald Trump says celebrity Kathy Griffin "should be ashamed of herself" for appearing in a video holding what looked like Trump's bloody, severed head.

In a post on his Twitter account Wednesday morning, the president says, "My children, especially my 11-year-old son, Barron, are having a hard time with this. Sick!"

Griffin has apologized, saying that the brief video was "too disturbing" and wasn't funny.

"I went too far," she says in a second video. "I sincerely apologize."

CNN announced midday on Wednesday that it had cut ties with Griffin, who has appeared during the network's New Year's Eve coverage. In an earlier statement, CNN had called the images "disgusting and offensive."

Griffin's CNN co-host, Anderson Cooper, tweeted he was "appalled" by the photo, which he described as "clearly disgusting and completely inappropriate."

Calls for jail

Many people online called for Griffin to be jailed.

The first video showed a straight-faced Griffin slowly lifting the bloody head. She originally described the project with photographer Tyler Shields as an "artsy fartsy statement" mocking the commander in chief.

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In her second, subsequent apology video, Griffin begs her fans for forgiveness and says she has asked the photographer to remove the images.

"I made a mistake, and I was wrong," she says.

The video had apparently been removed from Shields's blog by late Tuesday.

Squatty Potty, a Utah-based bathroom products company, said in a statement Tuesday that it has suspended an ad campaign featuring Griffin.

A publicist for Shields did not respond to a request for comment.