YouTube airs Tommy Cooper's death
Anger over tastesless footage
The harrowing moment Tommy Cooper died on stage has been posted on YouTube.Around 50,000 people have watched the footage from the live TV show Live From Her Majesty's in 1984. The audience carried on laughing, thinking it was all part of the act, until it became clear he had suffered a fatal heart attack.
And the Daily Mail and Daily Telegraph have today told their seven million readers of the existence of the clips – which is sure to boost their exposure – while simultaneously complaining how distasteful they are.
YouTube has been alerted to the nature of the clips, and flagged them as potentially 'inappropriate', but has not taken them down.
Tory MP Philip Davies, who sits on the Commons culture, media and sport select committee, called for the footage to be removed, saying: ‘Most people would find that tasteless. They ought to have some regard to his family. It does YouTube a discredit.’
And John Beyer, of pressure group Mediawatch UK, said: 'This is very poor taste. That the broadcasters have not repeated the incident shows they have a respect for him and I think that ought to apply also on YouTube.’
Published: 9 May 2009
