KREM, a Spokane, Washington-based news station, accidentally broadcast the explicit clip during a weather report that aired at 6.30 pm over the weekend.
Meteorologist Michelle Boss reported that the state was expecting 'some bonus days of nice weather after a gorgeous weekend of mild temperatures,' seemingly completely unaware of what was being played in the upper left corner of the screen.
In the pornographic video a woman lying in bed. The camera then scanned down her body and showed her bare backside.
Boss's co-anchor Cody Proctor also showed no reaction to the clip as the CBS-affiliated station continued to show more weather footage.
According to TVSpy, KREM apologized to viewers hours later, during the 11 pm newscast.
'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 anchor said.
US TV station accidentally airs 13 seconds of PORN during a weather report https://t.co/guTsQIUqJI
— Daily Mail US (@DailyMail) October 20, 2021
A statement issued by the Spokane City Police Department on Monday morning said that the department's Special Victims Unit (SVU) and Technical Assistance Response Unit (TARU) are investigating 'how the image appeared and where it came from.
'The station's personnel are cooperating fully with SPD in the attempt to determine what happened,' it read, adding that the 'disturbing image...generated numerous calls from concerned citizens in the city and county.
As of yesterday, no one has been found responsible for airing the clip.
DailyMail.com has reached out to Boss and Proctor for comment.
However, this isn't the first time a news station has made a rated-X mistake. In 2016 CNN viewers tuned in on Thanksgiving night expecting to watch Anthony Bourdain's 'Parts Unknown' - but were met with a half-hour of porn instead.
A Twitter user shared explicit images of porn star Riley Quinn that appeared on her screen instead of Bourdain's travelogue. She also reached out to her cable provider, RCN, asking for explanations.
The porn movie, according to the user, went on for at least 30 minutes. She first saw it on CNN around 10.30 pm, watched something else, and kept checking periodically until the channel blacked out completely at 11 pm.
A CNN spokesperson first appeared to confirm that there had been a mistake, before issuing a new statement suggesting the contrary. A review by RCN indicated that the Boston viewer was the only one affected.
Other Twitter users saw the humor in the situation and one wrote after reports of the incident emerged: 'You won't believe what they aired instead of Mike Rowe's Dirty Jobs.'
'Oops, I think those parts are known,' another said.
Even Quinn herself took to the app to jokingly thank CNN for the 'free airtime'.
