You may have heard about CNN apparently broadcasting hardcore porn from any one of these news outlets:

The Daily Caller

International Business Times

The Independent

Variety

Esquire

The New York Post

Daily Mail

Mashable

and countless others...

Turns out, this report is probably fake, or at the very least, was not backed up by enough evidence to be considered credible.

It all started with a twitter account solikearose after tweeting out this image stating that CNN in Boston was broadcasting hardcore porn instead of the scheduled Parts Unknown by Anthony Bourdain. solikearose then started the hashtag #bourdainporn.

The above news outlets got wind of this SINGLE TWEET, and ran with it. No one had any more information on this, not even a short video was recorded.

It got so big that CNN themselves demanded a response from RCN (the cable broadcasters that serviced the Boston area):

The RCN cable operator in Boston aired inappropriate content for 30 minutes on CNN last night. CNN has asked for an explanation.

This is not proof that it happened; it's proof that they thought it had happened and were trying to get ahead of it (and push the blame on someone else).

It's more than likely not legit. The twitter account of solikearose has since gone private due to:

weirdos sending me hate mail in the wake of #bourdainporn

RCN serves over 300,000 subscribers in that area; if this really did happen, there would be more evidence of it, instead of just a single, easily doctored, image.

TL;DR: This story came from a single tweet by solikearose, a twitter account apparently residing in Boston. Everyone ran with the story even though they had no corroborating evidence. The twitter account has since gone private. Be careful what you believe on the internet.

EDIT1: Fixed image & added more info.

EDIT2: Fixed a stupid typo.