Tyler Shields Defends Kathy Griffin Photo Of Beheaded Trump, Won’t Censor Himself

A photo featuring Kathy Griffin holding the bloodied head of President Donald Trump may have landed the comedian in hot water and cost her a job at CNN, but photographer Tyler Shields isn’t backing down because of the backlash.

TMZ caught up with Shields in Los Angeles and asked him about the criticism the photoshoot received. The photographer played it coy at first, saying he didn’t know what they were talking about.

READ: Twitter Reacts To Photo Of Kathy Griffin With Bloodied Trump Head

“Oh man, I got nothing to say. I’m sorry,” Shields told the publication.

But when asked if he would do it again, Shields said yes, calling it art. “Honestly, I’ve got no comment. Only thing is, when you make art, you gotta stand by it. That’s it.”

While Shields wouldn’t say if he would do more photos with other celebrities, he did say he couldn’t censor himself. As for Griffin, Shields wouldn’t publicly comment on the comedian but did say he had spoken to her already. “I’ve talked to Kathy,” Shields said.

During an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Shields said the idea for the photo was mutual between him and Griffin. “We’d be talking about doing something and she said to me, ‘I’m not afraid to get political if you want or make a statement if you want,’” he said.

“It’s always a collaborative process, especially with someone like Kathy, but it was one of those things where we didn’t know exactly what we were gonna do until we got there. Then, once we got there, it just kind of escalated into that. There were a bunch of different ideas thrown around and then, I was like, ‘This is the one we gotta do,’” Shields added.

The photographer also revealed that Griffin had no reservations about the photo shoot and was aware of the backlash she would receive. “Kathy’s honest reaction was, ‘We’re gonna have to move to Mexico because they’re gonna put me in jail.’”

He added, “Now again, fortunately, we have freedom of speech [in the first amendment] and all art is generally protected by these things, but again, this was her first thought, ‘Will you bail me out of jail?’ You know, again, it wasn’t, ‘I don’t want to do this because I might go to jail.’ It was like, ‘Well, I’m gonna do it and whatever happens, happens.’”

Since the release of the photo, Griffin has seen scheduled stand-up comedy gigs cancelled, and was fired by CNN, where she hosted the New Year’s Eve special with Anderson Cooper.

“CNN has terminated our agreement with Kathy Griffin to appear on our New Year’s Eve program,” the network tweeted on Wednesday.

On Tuesday, Griffin took to Twitter to post an apology video, saying she understood that she went to far with the “disturbing” photo. “I sincerely apologize,” the comedian said. “I’m just now seeing the reactions of these images. I’m a comic. I crossed the line. I move the line, then I cross it; I went way too far.”

READ: Melanie Trump Calls Kathy Griffin Photo 'Disturbing'

Griffin said she understood why the image would offend people and said she would remove the photo and also revealed she would ask Shields to remove it as well.

“The image is too disturbing. I understand how it offends people. It wasn’t funny, I get it. I’ve made a lot of mistakes in my career, I will continue. I asked your forgiveness. Taking down the image. Gonna ask the photographer to take down the image," she said.