Fox News anchor Ernie Anastos swears on air, clip goes viral

When news anchor Ernie Anastos said on air, "Keep f**king that chicken," his epithet became a Web sensation. A YouTube clip of the accidental cursing has attracted 803,000 views and counting since Wednesday. It began as a ho-hum newscast on Wednesday night. Ernie Anastos, the longtime Fox WNYW news achor, was introducing the weatherman Nick Gregory, using an old catchphrase from the Perdue chicken commercial. He told Gregory, "It takes a tough man to make a tender forecast." But what followed was either a major slip of the tongue or a challenge to the FCC decency's protocol. Before the camera panned to Gregory, Anastos inexplicably added, "Keep f**king that chicken." Anastos’s co-anchor, Dari Alexander, expressed instant shock. Gregory attempted to grin awkwardly through the slip. Anastos looked like he didn't notice the major gaffe. But everyone on the Web noticed, thanks in part to talk show host Jon Stewart's publicizing on Thursday night. The most popular upload of the clip on YouTube has accumulated 804,000 views at the time of publication. It's received more than 1,200 comments. Since the incident, Simmons apologized for the mistake. Also, station manager Lew Leone released a statement, saying, “We are disappointed with Ernie’s comment on the air last night.” So far, Anastos won't be fired or suspended from work. The NY Daily News reports insiders say the anchor meant to say, "Keep plucking that chicken" instead of dropping the F-bomb on millions of viewers.