CNN viewers feasted their eyes on more parts than they bargained for Thanksgiving night when they tuned in for “Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown.”
Boston viewers hungry for the popular culinary travelogue instead got a hefty serving of hardcore porn for 30 minutes because of a mistake by cable provider RCN, which provides CNN’s broadcasting down the East Coast.
The X-rated gaffe was gleefully shared on social media after the raunchy fare, featuring adult transsexual film star Riley Quinn, appeared at 10 p.m.
“I can’t wait until [RCN] wakes up [tomorrow] & realizes that hardcore porn was broadcast on [CNN] instead of [Parts Unknown] tonight,” user @Solikearose tweeted.
“Did anyone else with RCN in Boston see the hardcore porn that was broadcast by CNN by mistake?” the user asked before making her account private, the Independent reported.
“Vague update from RCN on the #BourdainPorn incident: everything ‘working perfectly,’ can’t tell how many households affected,” she added.
CNN released an initial statement on Friday that addressed the controversy.
“The RCN cable operator in Boston aired inappropriate content for 30 minutes on CNN last night,” the statement read.
“CNN has asked for an explanation.”
Later in the day, the network released another statement that claimed there may have been no porn on the network.
“Despite media reports to the contrary, RCN assures us that there was no interruption of CNN’s programming in the Boston area last night,” the second statement read.
Rob Mulligan, who identifies himself on Twitter as a “stand upper, voice actorer and food scientister,” sarcastically remarked: “You won’t believe what they aired instead of Mike Rowe’s Dirty Jobs.”
CNN also was left red-faced and apologized on Monday for running a banner onscreen during a segment on white supremacists that read “Alt-right founder questions if Jews are people.”
RCN serves almost 300,000 subscribers in the Boston, New York, Philadelphia and Washington, DC, areas.