For the second year in a row, CNN decided to pair Kathy Griffin and Anderson Cooper together for their New Year’s Eve live coverage in New York City. They looked like they were having the time of their lives – joking, acting silly, making too many Lady Gaga jokes. I’m not sure if Anderson was drinking, but it would certainly explain his endless giggling fits.

What happened during the live broadcast is still being poured over. Did Anderson and Kathy think they were off the air? Did Kathy scream at some heckler knowing that it was going out live? All anyone knows is that at some point during the broadcast, Kathy Griffin leaned over the railing and shouted “Screw you. Why don’t you get a job, buddy? You know what, I don’t go to your job and knock the d–ks out of your mouth!”

CNN pulled the comments from it’s repeat broadcasts, and the CNN executives are probably wishing they had put Anderson and Kathy on a ten-second time delay. CNN honchos are now in the midst of issuing denials, explanations and a litany of shrugs.

Here’s an on-air pairing that will probably never happen again after CNN’s New Year’s Eve telecast: Anderson Cooper and Kathy Griffin. Griffin was co-hosting the CNN special telecast of Times Square on New Year’s Eve with Cooper. The “My Life on the D-List” star got into hot water early Thursday morning with some choice words to a heckler that were captured live on the channel. It happened after the ball drop but while the telecast was still going on.

“Screw you. Why don’t you get a job, buddy?” she told the hecker. “You know what, I don’t go to your job and knock the d–ks out of your mouth.”

The remark had been made as the channel was about to go to commercial, which it did right after, according to a recording of the incident widely available on YouTube.

“We recognize that the comment made by comedian Kathy Griffin during the live broadcast was inappropriate. She did not know she was on the air at the time, and we removed it from the rebroadcast,” said a CNN spokeswoman.

Griffin’s rant was edited out of a rebroadcast early Thursday morning. CNN did not have a delay on the broadcast. But perhaps it should have, since Griffin is known for a blue act and even on TV has made controversial remarks. One live comment in accepting a 2007 Emmy for “D-List” offended some Christian groups.

Earlier in the CNN telecast, she lampooned former CNN Headline News host Glenn Beck and asked for a pap smear given by medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta.

CNN is unlikely to get in any substantial trouble because there are no FCC rules regarding cable obscenity.

[From HollywoodReporter.com]

Kathy Griffin will most likely come out of this a big winner – every time she opens up her mouth it seems that someone is trying to jump down her throat. And yet she’s always able to make lemonade out of the proverbial lemons. After her “suck it, Jesus” remarks at the Emmys in 2007, the controversy made her even more famous and she began playing bigger venues. It’s my hope that Anderson Cooper doesn’t get punished for Kathy’s remarks, and that he steadfastly refuses to throw her under the bus. He’s the one who was laughing! He was her enabler that night! Alas, I doubt CNN will let them host next year’s festivities. It’s a shame.