Photo Artis and Gossip

Exclusive

John Stamos takes steam room showers with gay men — at least that’s the joke that’s been running in a recent promo for “The Office” … a joke that has since been awkwardly edited out.

The original promo aired on NBC for several days beginning last Thursday — advertising an upcoming episode of the “The Office,” in which Andy (Ed Helms) attempts to dump his girlfriend by lying about being gay. In the promo, Andy says, “I’m gay … I had to fake it. I had to imagine that I was in a steam room with John Stamos.”

But this morning, viewers began to notice ANOTHER version of the same promo — in which the words “John Stamos” have been clumsily edited out.

Now — instead of Andy saying “I had to imagine that I was in a steam room with John Stamos” — he says, “I had to imagine that I was in a steam room with …” and it cuts to a voice over saying, “cool guys.”

It begs the question — why is “The Office” backing off the John Stamos gay joke?

We reached out to Stamos’ people — so far, no word back.  A rep for NBC had no comment.