News Anchor Latest to Make On-Air Blunder

Sept. 18, 2009— -- Oops!

We've all had an "oops" moment in which we've put our foot in our mouth or said the wrong thing. When you're on television, that moment gets magnified, and if it goes viral, well, the moment could last forever.

On Wednesday night, New York Fox 5 news anchor Ernie Anastos became the latest TV personality to see his "oops" moment memorialized. During the 10 p.m. newscast, while bantering with weathercaster Nick Gregory, Anastos dropped the F-bomb.

Their exchange went something like this:

"I guess it takes a tough man to make a tender forecast," Anastos said to Gregory.

"I guess that's me," a bewildered Gregory replied.

Both men shared a chuckle, then the 66-year-old anchorman shocked his colleagues and the audience at home when he said, "Keep f***ing that chicken."

Stunned co-anchor Dari Alexander grimaced straight into the camera before going to commercial.

Exactly what Anastos meant was not clear, but Thursday afternoon Fox 5 issued a statement to ABCNews.com: "We are disappointed with Ernie's comment on the air last night. He will apologize for his use of inappropriate language tonight during 'Fox 5 News at 10 p.m.'"

Halfway through Thursday night's newscast, Anastos, once again sitting between Alexander and Gregory, turned to the camera and said: "I misspoke during last night's newscast. I apologize to anyone who might have been offended."

Apparently, the legendary co-anchor has had his share of on-air blunders. Once, he mispronounced the station's own Web site as "myFoxNY.c**k."

ABCNews.com has pulled together some other memorable television blunders from the past year:

Comedian D-lister Kathy Griffin was naughty on New Year's 2009 during a live broadcast on CNN with Anderson Cooper.

TV Bloopers: Larry King, President Obama

Talk show legend Larry King didn't exactly blunder when he told PBS host Tavis Smiley that his son wanted to be black after President Obama was elected. But Jimmy Kimmel milked it for laughs anyway.

You would think that TV-savvy guests would learn never to trust a microphone as long as it's still clipped to them. But it's during those unsuspecting hot-mic moments that you can really hear what newsmakers think.

Just think of Obama's recent off-the-cuff comments about Kanye West or Jesse Jackson's off-color comments about Obama during the election.

At the end of last year, Peggy Noonan and Mike Murphy, a former aide to Sen. John McCain, took their turn to get caught when they were overheard criticizing McCain's VP pick, Sarah Palin.

MSNBC talk show host Joe Scarborough had a slip of the tongue one morning on his political show. He accidently dropped the F-bomb when meant to use just the first letter of the word. When his co-host pointed out what he had said, Scarborough stopped the show to apologize. Perhaps he knew he was going to be in trouble with more than just the FCC. He had to face his wife when he got home.