ET has the details...

There's a new flap involving Sarah Palin: In honor of Thanksgiving, she pardoned one turkey while other birds met their demise right behind her. Now the former VP hopeful's rep is speaking out to ET about the turkey pardon-gone-wrong!

"The [Alaska] governor did not know it was going on behind her," Palin's spokesperson tells ET of the reportedly grisly scene at Triple D Farm & Hatchery outside Wasilla. Cameras captured Palin extending the annual Thanksgiving pardon to one turkey while a farm hand slaughtered the bird's feathered friends in the background.

Palin's spokesperson tells ET the bird butchering wasn't going on when the shot was set up, and a cameraman "ignored" the governor's staff's request to remove the graphic sight once cameras were rolling.

"We're unhappy about it and the station is not happy either," Palin's rep tells ET, adding, "this was an attempt to lighten up and do something non-controversial."