Anyone choosing to avoid the saccharine, waxy dimpled sweetness of Ryan Seacrest’s Vanilla Rockin New Years Bland Eve (this year with 30% more coverage of liquored up yahoos in those awful, Elton John knock-off 2010 glitter eyeglasses) might have taken a gamble on CNN’s broadcast featuring Anderson Stone Cold Hottie Cooper and that notorious A-list comedienne masquerading as a D-list loser, Kathy Griffin. If so, you also might have caught Griffin slipping Coops the F-bomb, well not so much slipping as un-casually dropping it in order to make a joke on the name of the Balloon Boy, Falcon Heene. (And if you have a thick, Boston accent, you’ve said his name in a way that isn’t meant as a joke at all).

Finger wagging media outlets were quick to wag their proverbial finger at Ms. Griffin for her f-bomb-paux and its tastelessness. After all, this was not Madam Griffin’s first offense. Last year during the same broadcast she fired back on a couple of hecklers, telling them to “get a job,” adding: “I don’t come down to where you work and knock the dick out of your mouth.” (I quip, I feel compelled to note, which as brilliant is it was and no doubt satisfying to say, is actually a line taken from a Bob Odenkirk, Mr. Show sketch). The finger wagging was joined by a robust dose of throat clearing and nervous chuckling over the “antics” of the “spitfire comedienne” who has proved herself too much for CNN to handle.  In fact, rumors circulated on the web today that CNN planned to ban the “spitfire” from appearing on CNN, the “most trusted and respected news source;” a news source known for generating 3-D holographic election maps that caused dogs to smash their heads into television screens and old people to spontaneously hit their First-Alert buttons over panic that “the Aliens were here!”

Frau Griffin’s curve of the tongue is not so interesting or even news worthy as its predictable backlash. Griffin’s a “spitfire,” who relies on outlandish “antics,” but comics like Chris Rock or Dennis Leary are “edgy,” “controversial” performers.  Is it that Griffin is too much for CNN to “handle,” (why does she need handling at all, is she a horse or a vial of plutonium?) or is that just code for another woman who refuses to compromise her performance approach by putting on her little white gloves and bonnet for network television? Reports of the incident, much like Robert Pattinson’s acting abilities, have been wildly exaggerated. Griffin didn’t unleash a profanity-laced tirade, she performed a play on words.  If she’s guilty of anything, it’s wasting a comedic moment to riff on the inanity of the Balloon Boy and his fame-sucking parents, by forcing a joke that wasn’t all that shocking or strong.

Tsk tsk Kathy, tut tut, and shame shame on you for towing the gender line. On national television to boot! Shame on who?

Shame on CNN for signing on for a comedienne known for playing as hard and as funny as the rest of the boys.  Shame on the network brass for mistaking Griffin for one of their fuzzier funny females like Ellen or Bonnie Hunt. Shame on the media for making an incident out of a woman just doing what she does best: joking.