KATHY GRIFFIN'S CNN PROFANITY PROMPTS FORMAL APOLOGY

Outspoken American comedienne KATHY GRIFFIN turned the U.S. airwaves blue on New Year's Eve (31Dec09) when she appeared to swear on live TV.

The funnywoman was a guest host on news channel CNN's end-of-year programme on Thursday (31Dec09), which was broadcast live from New York's Times Square.

But she let the 'F-word' slip during a discussion about the balloon boy scandal with co-host Anderson Cooper, when she joked about how to pronounce the first name of Falcon Heene - the kid at the centre of the October (09) hoax - seemingly branding him "F**king Heene".

Griffin's profanity use caused Cooper to hang his head in shame and mutter, "You're terrible", before resuming his segment.

But CNN producers issued a statement on Friday (01Jan10) apologising to viewers for Griffin's swearing, saying the network "regrets that profanity was used during our New Year's Eve coverage".

The balloon boy scandal, staged by U.S. reality stars Richard Heene and his wife Mayumi, sent Colorado authorities on a wild chase after falsely reporting their six-year-old son had been trapped inside a flying experimental balloon, which had become untethered in their back yard. The boy was later found hiding in the family's garage.

It was the second consecutive year that Griffin has caused controversy - during CNN's 2008 broadcast, she jokingly heckled a crowdmember and suggested he was a male sex worker.

--IANS-WENN