Paul O’Grady could be in trouble for TV helium stunt
Paul O’Grady is being investigated by TV regulator Ofcom – because he inhaled helium on his chat show.
During a segment of ITV’s Paul O’Grady Show that aired before the watershed last month, O’Grady was seen inhaling helium to get a higher-pitched voice.
However, the stunt has been decried by some as dangerous – over fears that young viewers may copy him without understanding the risk.
Inhaling too much helium can cause serious brain damage or even prove fatal, as it displaces Oxygen from the lungs to create the comical voice.
A spokesman for Ofcom said: “Ofcom has opened an investigation into whether it was harmful for the presenter to demonstrate inhaling helium gas during this live pre-watershed show.”
It comes after a 12-year-old girl was left in a coma after inhaling helium as part of a TV show in Japan.
The broadcaster had apologised after the girl suffered an air embolism, preventing the flow of blood to her brain.
Paul O’Grady previously said he would leave the country if David Cameron was re-elected Prime Minister.
He said: “I can’t live under this bloody government any more. I am going to get a house on the Lido in Venice. I have paid a fortune in tax and I will say ‘you can have that mate’.
“What I am going to do in a house on the Lido in Venice when I can’t speak Italian and hate pasta, God only knows. But I can’t live under this Conservative Government, this Coalition.
“That is why we have to vote Labour, we have to get Ed in, we have to make changes.”
However, after Mr Cameron’s party stormed to a majority in the election, Mr O’Grady’s spokesman did not return a request for comment from PinkNews.
