Kathy Griffin went too far with her photo holding a fake severed head resembling President Donald Trump, but she should be forgiven, Sen. Al Franken told CNBC on Thursday.

The comment from the Minnesota Democrat came a day after CNN fired Griffin for posing in a photograph with the bloodied head. Griffin posted a videotaped apology on Tuesday amid bipartisan backlash over the images.

In a tweet Wednesday, Trump said that Griffin "should be ashamed of herself."

"I condemned that immediately. I called her. She's a friend. I told her you can't do that," Franken said on "Squawk Box." "I don't make decisions for CNN. I believe in forgiveness."

"I told her there is no place in our discourse for an image like this. I condemn that but I do believe in forgiveness," he added.

Franken and Griffin are still set to appear together in July at an event in Beverly Hills, California, promoting his new book, "Al Franken: Giant of the Senate."