Nearly a month before a hot sex scene from an upcoming episode of ABC's "Desperate Housewives" was to air in prime time, it was leaked to YouTube.

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E! Online reported Saturday that if ardent fans typed "desperate sex" into their Web browsers, a 60-second clip from the steamy scene was made available by a couple of posters to the popular YouTube Web site.

"We are looking into the unauthorized clips of "Desperate Housewives" on YouTube and will be having them taken down," an ABC representative said Friday.

The scene apparently features Bree and new boy-toy Orson in bed, with the underwear-clad housewife protesting her partner's attempt at a certain intimate sexual act. "I don't do that," she says. "I'm a Republican."

ABC insists that no one at the network purposely leaked the footage in an attempt to increase interest in the show after what critics, fans and even producers agreed was a disappointing last season.