Photo: Getty Images
A TV station in Spokane, Washington is apologizing after accidentally airing a pornographic clip during the weather forecast on the 6 p.m. newscast on Sunday. While CBS affiliate KREM's meteorologist, Michelle Boss, delivered the weather report, graphic video of a woman played on a screen behind her.
The clip was shown for about 13 seconds before the news show cut to a weather map. Strangely, neither Michelle nor anchor Cody Proctor, who was also on screen, reacted to what has playing in the background.
Daniel Walters, a reporter for Spokane community paper The Inlander, shared a censored still from the newscast on Twitter.
During the 11 p.m. news on Sunday, the station apologized to viewers, saying, "Those of us here at KREM 2 want to apologize for something that happened in our 6 p.m. An inappropriate video aired in the first part of the show. We are diligently working to make sure something like this doesn't happen again."
The Spokane police, who received numerous calls over the incident, are now investigating. Per a release that Walters shared from them, "the investigation is ongoing and no culpability of any kind has been determined."
KREM could be facing a very large fine for the incident too, even if it was accidental. In 2015, the Federal Communications Commission fined a Roanoke, Virginia station $325,000 for airing three seconds of a sex act. That station had intended to show a non-explicit clip of an adult film star, but accidentally played the wrong part.
No word yet on how the pornographic video wound up airing on KREM's weather report.