Viewers tuning in to hear a weather report got a bit of a shock after a news channel accidentally aired porn for 13 seconds.
KREM, a local CBS-affiliated news outlet based in Spokane, Washington aired the explicit footage on Sunday during their 6pm broadcast.
A weather update was being given by meteorologist Michelle Boss when the pornographic footage suddenly appeared on the screen behind her right shoulder.
For 13 seconds, the video of what appeared to be a woman’s backside was on screen.
It’s not clear whether Boss or her co-anchor Cody Proctor were aware of the clip - but if they were, they certainly handled it like pros and didn’t even react to the unplanned video.
Daniel Walters, a local reporter for Inlander, shared a blurred clip and described the incident as “very strange” and added that he “thought it might have been a hoax when I first saw it.”
It's a very strange clip -- so strange I thought it might have been a hoax when I first saw it. Nobody on screen seems to react, and it takes shockingly long before they cut away. (I've blurred the image, obviously) pic.twitter.com/AtLnG02nrE
— Daniel Walters (@danielwinlander) October 18, 2021
As a result of the incident, KREM later apologised during their 11pm broadcast, Adweek reported.
“Those of us here at KREM 2 want to apologize for something that happened in our 6 p.m. newscast tonight,” the station said.
“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.”
After receiving calls from concerned viewers, the Spokane Police Department has since opened an investigation into the incident.
“The Spokane Police Department Special Victims Unit responded to a local news outlet Sunday evening after a disturbing image/video appeared on the screens of viewers during the station’s weather report,” the department said in a statement.
“Around 6:30 PM on Sunday SPD began to receive calls regarding what was described as a pornographic or explicit image appearing during a television weather forecast. It was a short video segment, generally described as a small portion of the screen, showing a separate image from the newscast of what appeared to be a possibly pornographic or explicit image.
“Estimates were the image/video lasted about 10 seconds.”
Now, the Spokane Police Department’s Special Victims Unit (SVU) and Technical Assistance Response Unit (TARU) are conducting an investigation and working with the station to find out how the video appeared on a newscast and where it came from.
“At the time of this release, the investigation is ongoing and no culpability of any kind has been determined,” police said.
