Squatty Potty dumps Kathy Griffin over Trump decapitation photos

File: Kathy Griffin attends the 24th Annual Race to Erase MS Gala in Beverly Hills, California. Griffin's video holding what was meant to look like President Donald Trump's severed head, has resulted in a lost endorsement deal and at least one club engagement for the comedian. Griffin has apologized, conceding that the brief video, which she originally described as an "artsy fartsy statement" mocking the commander in chief, was "too disturbing" and wasn't funny, Beverly Hills, California, May 5, 2017 | Photo by Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP, File, St. George News

ST. GEORGE – Kathy Griffin, a comedian known for her abrasive style of humor, has been dropped by St. George-based Squatty Potty as a spokeswoman Tuesday due to a joke Griffin has since said “went too far.”

The joke in question went viral Tuesday and involved an image of Griffin holding up a fake – yet bloodied and severed – head of President Donald Trump.

The photo has since been taken offline, and Griffin posted a short video on Twitter apologizing for the gruesome imagery.

I sincerely apologize. … I went way too far,” she said in the video. “The image is too disturbing. I understand how it offends people. It wasn’t funny. I get it. … I beg for your forgiveness. I went too far. I made a mistake and I was wrong.”

The photo was first published by TMZ and came from a photo shoot Griffin did with photographer Tyler Shields.

In the viral wake of the photo’s release, an ad campaign launched with Squatty Potty involving Griffin has been flushed down the toilet bowl of oblivion. She has also been dropped by CNN, where she has been a New Year’s Eve show co-host for nearly a decade.

“We were shocked and disappointed to learn about the image Ms. Griffin shared today, it was deeply inappropriate and runs contrary to the core values our company stands for,” Bobby Edwards, Squatty Potty CEO, said in a statement Tuesday.

“In response, Squatty Potty has suspended its ad campaign featuring Ms. Griffin,” he said. “We have acted swiftly and decisively to demonstrate our commitment to a culture of decency, civility, and tolerance.”

The ad campaign, as reported by Adweek, started just a few weeks ago. A video had also been produced but has since been taken down.

“I am a true supporter of free speech, but feel Kathy crossed the line,” Edwards said, as reported by The Associated Press. “I regret having to make these decisions, but have no choice.”

The Squatty Potty company creates toilet stools that allows people to squat while using the toilet in order to better eliminate bodily waste when answering Mother Nature’s siren call. As the company posted on its Facebook page Wednesday, “We just want to help people poop better.”

CNN announced Wednesday it had fired Griffin from its New Year’s Eve program.

In an earlier statement, CNN officials called the images “disgusting and offensive.”

Griffin’s annual partner for those Times Square telecasts, CNN correspondent Anderson Cooper, weighed in with his own reprimand: “For the record, I am appalled by the photo shoot Kathy Griffin took part in,” he tweeted. “It is clearly disgusting and completely inappropriate.”

The images ultimately drew the ire of Trump himself, who said in a tweet Wednesday that Griffin “should be ashamed of herself.”

Griffin’s twitter-based apology is featured below.

The Associated Press television writer FRAZIER MOORE contributed to this article.

Email: [email protected]

Twitter: @MoriKessler

Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2017, all rights reserved.

Free News Delivery by Email

Would you like to have the day's news stories delivered right to your inbox every evening? Enter your email below to start!

35 Comments

  • comments May 31, 2017 at 2:47 pm

    She’s a comic. She’s mad a career out of making an ass of herself. And she was doing ads for a product meant to help people take a dump? I looked at the pic. I guess it’s very realistic looking and kinda gross. As a comic (who I think isn’t even good) I don’t think she’s out of bounds at all.

    “has been dropped by St. George-based Squatty Potty”

    Just curious, is the product actually made here or is it just a another Chinese product with their business headquarters here?

    • comments May 31, 2017 at 2:54 pm

      A lot of plastic injection-molded stuff actually is still made in the US because they can pump it out so cheap it ends up not being worth boating it over from china. Then again, some companies will do china anyways to try to squeeze every last cent of profit. And if they’re supplying walmart they might do china just for production quantities, which smaller US based factories might not be set up for.

    • CaliGirl June 3, 2017 at 9:56 am

      I believe they manufacture them in Leeds. I met a woman who said her dad owns the business that makes the Squatty Potty.

  • DRT May 31, 2017 at 2:56 pm

    Good Job Squatty Potty! It’s high time that at least a modicum of civilization was brought back.
    Humor. In the eye of the beholder?
    Seems like humor is pretty much a lost art. People call vulgarity and profane language humor.
    Kind of like calling dog vomit a chicken fried steak.

  • Brian May 31, 2017 at 3:19 pm

    “Squatty Potty dumps Kathy Griffin” Ha ha, I see what you did there.

    I have to question the judgement of anyone that would have Kathy Griffin endorse anything for the last 5+ years. She went off the rails and at least publicly is entirely devoid of redeeming qualities.

    • comments May 31, 2017 at 10:20 pm

      hah. didn’t even catch that til u pointed it out. That Mori he’s a cleaver ol’ boy, hahah 😉

  • Sedona May 31, 2017 at 3:34 pm

    Kathy Griffin was the spokeperson for……. Squatty Potty???
    We can have lots of fun with this one.

    OK…..I’ll leave the one-liners up to you folks.

  • ScanMeister May 31, 2017 at 3:35 pm

    I will not support any company that has Kathy Griffin on the payroll. Stop buying and stop watching any companies that are associated with her. This act was borderline criminal behavior. Say goodbye to lots of dollars of future income…….you messed up big time……it will cost you big time too!

  • Icomments2 May 31, 2017 at 10:36 pm

    She was never a funny comic nor a good actress and should be arrested for a threat towards the president if you think about it!!! If it was Obamas head and his kids had seen it you know she’d be in jail right now!!!

    • theone June 1, 2017 at 9:59 am

      Then why isn’t Ted Nugent in jail for threatening to hang Obama not once but several times? Double standard me thinks.

      • Henry June 2, 2017 at 11:30 am

        Inapt comparison. Ted Nugent made over-the-top comments about the POTUS – just like Madonna, Charlie Sheen, Ashley Judd and others have made about the current POTUS. All received Secret Service visits and subsequently toned down their rhetoric.

        Kathy Griffin had a long history of making similar inflammatory remarks. But this photo shoot, holding a mock-up of President Trump’s severed head covered in blood, crossed a rather obvious line — it celebrated Trump’s prospective murder.

        • theone June 3, 2017 at 10:24 am

          Yeah because calling for the hanging of someone and the cleansing of a group of people is so delightful and forgivable. Pic or no pic, Nugent went down the same path as Kathy, and if you can give Nugent a pass just because he didn’t provide imagery then you’re just as worthless as he is. I think it sucks that Hitler called for the cleansing of a group of people as did Nugent, and you pass on it. You’ve got zero credibility Henry.

          • Henry June 3, 2017 at 11:24 am

            You’re the one with zero credibility, theone. I did NOT say that Ted Nugent should get a pass. He was spoken to by the Secret Service, as were those on the left (including previously Kathy Griffin) that made similar over-the-top remarks.

            Here’s the referenced quotes from Ted Nugent:
            – “I’ve never suggested anybody get hung except for one time after Benghazi, I recommended that Hillary Clinton be charged, arrested, tried, and hung. What she did as secretary of state was certainly treasonous and I stand by that.”
            – “You got to do it. America, you got to cleanse this country. No, I’m not talking about shooting anybody. I’m talking about dealing with an outrageous condition that is painful and traumatic and frustrating, but if you don’t face the beast, you’re dead, and that’s what’s going on.”

            By equating Ted Nugent’s remark with Hitler’s systematic murder of millions of people, you’re either being disingenuous or amazingly simple-minded.

          • theone June 5, 2017 at 9:33 am

            LOL Isn’t it funny how selective and delusional the ones like Henry are when it comes to acknowledging wrong when they see it. Kathy is wrong so throw her out, Ted is wrong but we love our conservative ideology. Henry is the typical example of the lockstep conservative who will not bend. Ted said on many occasions different ways to kill Obama, (suck on the end of my machine gun) being one of them. Henry puts up the back peddling nonsense Ted gave faux news as an example of him not saying kill Obama, laughable at best. Conservatives have been hijacked by the christian right and are in a tailspin. They have no rational leverage in the real world other than, stay in line or else. Punishing one and forgiving another for the same despicable act is the definition of walking blindly to the end of moral standing. Henry, you are not a winner by any stretch of the imagination so long as you stay in formation with the fundamental right. Hitler would be proud of you.

  • NotASellOut June 1, 2017 at 12:24 am

    Bobby Edwards is a homosexual activist.
    Nothing more needs to be said.

  • Navyvet June 1, 2017 at 8:11 am

    I am no fan of hers by any means, but people are being way to harsh with this. Nobody cared when Ted Nugent threatened Obama in 2012. I guess if your a white male you can say whatever you want and nobody is offended. Just another story to take the spotlight off Trump and his pending impeachment.

    • desertgirl June 1, 2017 at 10:34 am

      What dimension are you living in? Nugent took heavy heat as he should have. White males say what they want? Whites in general are blamed for everything these days and are having their freedoms taken away. Total racism. When whites are being asked to leave publicly supported institutes of learning ‘white men’ and women and children are the ones being offended. Trump won and the sociopathic criminal, Clinton didn’t. Get over it. You truly are unhinged and ignorant as to the world.

      • comments June 1, 2017 at 11:50 am

        i agree w/ dg on this one

      • Navyvet June 1, 2017 at 6:21 pm

        To be clear I didn’t say anything about Clinton so why did you bring it up. As far as being unhinged and ignorant to the world, I have lived in many parts of the world and trust me the world is much bigger than your little bubble in Southern Utah. What freedoms are being taken away from you. I am a white male and nobody is taking anything from me. And just remember people like me served our country to protect those freedoms that you and Kathy Griffen are able to express, freedom of speech is for all Americans. Next time you call somebody unhinged and ignorant, think about the men and women of all races that died protecting your freedom to open your uneducated loud mouth.

        • comments June 1, 2017 at 11:50 pm

          I also served the country and you with your ‘white male’ comment I’m not sure you aren’t unhinged and ignorant.

          • Navyvet June 2, 2017 at 8:30 am

            You must be under the spell of Fox news as well. Apparently you aren’t educated enough to see through the BS that they are selling you. Since you are so easy to persuade can I offer you some ocean front property in Arizona. It has a beautiful wall in the works at no extra cost to you. I’ll think of you when your Messiah goes to jail for treason.

          • comments June 2, 2017 at 10:51 am

            Not even a fan of the donald. I’m tired of our system coddling illegal mexicans and liberals telling blacks it isn’t their fault when they commit crimes. You are unhinged and ignorant, buddy.

        • ladybugavenger June 3, 2017 at 6:35 pm

          Kathy Griffin is unhinged..did you see her playing the victim?

  • desertgirl June 1, 2017 at 9:53 am

    As a comic it would be advisable (all of them) to stick to comedy. This gig was never meant to be ‘comedy’, ‘parody’ or anything similar. Personally, I have no doubts that Griffin and her pals intended this to be political commentary. Period. Not funny, detrimental in many ways. Many progressives and Democrats are so happy over this they are having orgasms. btw this video had notta to do with free speech.

    • theone June 1, 2017 at 10:19 am

      20 years of faux news has melted your brain in to a jell like mass making it impossible for you to deliver a coherent comment. Why do you conservatives make things up even when you lack facts for your assumptions?

      • Henry June 1, 2017 at 4:05 pm

        Are you a fascist far left loon, or do you just lack the intelligence to make a rational counter argument?

        • theone June 2, 2017 at 8:51 am

          Henry you should have the ability to see there is nothing to counter argue as I clearly pointed out the comment simply made assumptions. Typical right wing nonsense. In case you haven’t noticed, it seems to be the rights agenda to move us to a fascist nationalist rule. Can you say sheep………….

          • comments June 2, 2017 at 10:52 am

            I think you’re a far-left loon.

          • Henry June 2, 2017 at 11:04 am

            So the answer is that you lack the reading skills to comprehend desertgirl’s argument, so you resort to a personal attack and over-the-top rhetoric. Typical left wing response.

            “the rights (sic) agenda to move us to a fascist nationalistic rule.” RME. No, I didn’t realize that the black-masked rioters that shut down free speech at UC Berkeley and other campuses were right wingers. Can you say “useful idiot”……….

          • theone June 3, 2017 at 10:10 am

            I said it first and Henry couldn’t be original or self thinking so he changed the wording a little in an attempt to sound smart. LOL, speaking of useful idiot.

            As far as comment is concerned, I find it pointless to disagree with his/her far right delusion on the grounds it’s moot.

          • Henry June 3, 2017 at 11:28 am

            Poor theone can’t deal with someone refuting his illogical, vapid points and name calling, so he’s retreating to his SJW safe zone…..

          • theone June 4, 2017 at 5:43 pm

            Yeah can’t deal with it, or maybe being stuck in a circular argument with the likes of you have grown tiresome.

          • Henry June 5, 2017 at 11:16 am

            Nice deflection attempt. You always start the rhetorical flaming throwing, then can’t handle being challenged on it.

  • beacon June 1, 2017 at 4:36 pm

    She’s always been pretty irritating in my opinion and this just adds to that, comedian or not.

  • Whatever918 June 2, 2017 at 8:51 pm

    Wow, the comments on here are hilarious. I think they are better than the article itself. I don’t like her and I don’t think what she did was right, but unfortunately Trump isn’t the only president in history to be mocked in such a way.

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.