Kathy Griffin apologizes after tweeting president 'beheading' pictures

A social media firestorm is breaking out right now over a tweet by comedian Kathy Griffin about President Donald Trump.

We are choosing not to show you the tweet because of its graphic nature, but we can tell you that it includes a picture showing Griffin holding a mock decapitated head of the president. The photo appears to be part of a photoshoot Griffin did recently.

TIMELINE:

1:59 p.m.

TMZ tweets a link to a story showing Griffin holding the fake head. We are choosing not to include the actual tweet due to its sensitive nature.

3:48 p.m.

Donald Trump Jr. responds via a quote Tweet and calls the photos, “Disgusting but not surprising. This is the left today. They consider this acceptable. Imagine a conservative did this to Obama as POTUS?”

3:51 p.m.

The verified Secret Service Twitter account sends a message saying, “On it! @SecretService has a robust protective intelligence division that monitors open source reporting & social media to evaluate threats.”

The account did not specifically say if this tweet was directed to Kathy Griffin, but many online assumed it was.

4:40 p.m.

Kathy Griffin tweets twice from her verified account. Her first says, "I caption this 'there was blood coming out of his eyes, blood coming out of his…wherever' Also @tylershields great Photog/film maker."

Again, we have chosen to not include the actual tweet in this story because of the sensitive matter.

The second tweet says, “OBVIOUSLY, I do not condone ANY violence by my fans or others to anyone, ever! I’m merely mocking the Mocker in Chief.”

4:51 p.m.

The verified Secret Service Twitter account sends a message saying, “Threats made against Secret Service protectees receive the highest priority of all of our investigations.”

Again, the account did not specifically say if this tweet was directed to Kathy Griffin, but many online assumed it was.

5:01 p.m.

Hillary Clinton's daughter, Chelsea Clinton, sends a quote tweet from her verified account saying, "This is vile and wrong. It is never funny to joke about killing a president."

7:55 p.m.

Griffin posted a video apologizing for the picture, saying she went too far:

Again, we have chosen to not include the actual tweet in this story because of the sensitive matter.

Cox Media Group