Cee Lo Green thanks William Shatner for 'F*** You!' cover

Cee Lo Green has thanked William Shatner for his cover version of 'F*** You!', as it helped make the song more acceptable to audiences.

Star Trek actor Shatner performed his comedic spoken word version during an episode of Lopez Tonight, in an effort to get away with saying the word "f**k".

Green, speaking on George Lopez's late-night talkshow, revealed that Shatner's cover allowed him to perform the original expletive-laden version of the song more often, as long as it had bleeps.

"I heard about it and I got a chance to track down the footage on YouTube," the singer said.

"There was a lot of politics surrounding that record and no-one expected it to be as big of a commercial success as it was. We had discrepancies trying to perform it the original way but that really, really helped us."

Cee Lo Green, who is currently appearing as a mentor on The Voice, has said that he is "proud" of his team on the show.

Watch William Shatner perform 'F*** You!' live below: