Mr Methane kicks up an international stink

Row over fake Romanian TV footage

A variety performer is at the centre of a diplomatic row after doctored footage of him farting the Romanian national anthem was screened in the Eastern European nation.

Paul Oldfield, who performs under the stage name Mr Methane, has built an entire comedy act around his ability to break wind on cue.

Last week Romanian current affairs show Stirea Zilei showed a clip of him farting along to their national anthem on an episode of Britain’s Got Talent, as part of an item demonstrating how their nation was mocked by outsiders.

Viewers protested about how their country was insulted – yet the clip was actually a fake. When Mr Methane appeared on the talent show two years ago, his background track was the Blue Danube. Producers had not used that clip, but a misleadingly doctored version that a YouTube user called TheMoldaviansbrother had posted online.

Now Oldfield has written to the Romanian embassy in London over the incident and seeking a ‘full blown’ apology.

He wrote from his Macclesfield home: ‘I object to what [broadcaster] Antena3 and Stirea Zilei did because I was used to make a political statement when in fact I do not know the political situation in Romania.

‘The fake transmission enraged Romanian citizens and caused them see me as an object of hate when in fact I had not done anything and I was not involved in any way.

‘I would like to think that the Romanian Government has some regulation of its media and that it can register my complaint and correct the injustice by getting the show to transmit a full blown apology for inciting hatred against me.’

The screening of the clip was followed by a studio discussion that also featured former Romanian prime minister Adrian Nastase.

One viewer, Alan, wrote on the programme’s online message board: ‘I watched dumbfounded as the national anthem was mocked

And Dragos B. Baia Mare added: ‘My country Romania was humiliated… The people who lead us have allowed my country Romania to be mocked. ‘

The story was picked up by British blogger John Fleming, a friend of Mr Methane. The performer told him: ‘I’m no stranger to controversy and I don’t mind taking the blame for my own colon coughs but, in this case, my botty bugle was not involved. I had been set up. I think I deserve an apology.’

Meanwhile Talkback Thames, which makes Britain’s Got Talent for ITV, said they had not licensed the Romanian broadcaster to use any clip from the show.

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