'I went way too far': Comedian Kathy Griffin apologises for posting image of Donald Trump's 'severed head'

Comedian Kathy Griffin has apologised for taking part in a photo shoot in which she held up a bloody head resembling Donald Trump.

The images were released by celebrity photographer Tyler Shields on Tuesday and immediately drew widespread criticism.

"I'm a comic. I cross the line. I move the line, then I cross it. I went way too far," the comedian said in a video posted on Instagram. "The image is too disturbing. I understand how it offends people. It wasn't funny. I get it."

Griffin, who is an outspoken critic of the US president, said she had asked Shields to take down the photo.

"I beg for your forgiveness. I went too far," she said. "I made a mistake and I was wrong."

In an earlier tweet that has since been deleted, Griffin clarified that “OBVIOUSLY, I do not condone ANY violence by my fans or others to anyone, ever! I’m merely mocking the Mocker in Chief.”

The photo was widely condemned on social media, with some suggesting she had even broken the law.

Donald Trump Jr, one of the president’s sons,  called the imagery "disgusting but not surprising."

Chelsea Clinton, daughter of former president Bill Clinton, called the photo "vile and wrong."

"It is never funny to joke about killing a president," she wrote on Twitter.

The stunt even seemed to prompt a response from the Secret Service. “Threats made against @SecretService protectees receive the highest priority of all of our investigations,” it said on Twitter. 

Griffin had earlier posted behind the scenes footage of the photoshoot which suggested she was bracing for a backlash.

After claiming in the video that she and Shields were "not afraid to do images that make noise", she joked: "We have to move to Mexico today, but we're going to go to prison - federal prison...We're not surviving this, okay?" 

In an interview with EW, Shields defended the work. “I think there will be a lot of people who will absolutely hate this, but again, that’s the beauty of it,” he said.

“Am I saying that anyone should actually be killed? No, it’s like a movie. How many movies are there where the president gets killed or this happens? Tons upon tons.

"But again, when it’s an image, especially an image like this, people don’t see it like that. They see it as reality, and that’s why it’s so shocking to some people.”