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| © Siphiwe Sibeko / Reuters |
A grieving family was left horrified when a pornographic video was accidentally played during a funeral service.
Hundreds of family and friends congregated at Thornhill Crematorium in Cardiff to pay their respects to Simon Lewis and his baby son, Simon Lewis Jnr, who were killed in a car accident.
During the service the priest went to play a video of Simon, but a pornographic film came on instead. Cardiff Council has launched an urgent investigation into the incident, according to Wales Online.
The head-on collision took place on New Year’s Eve, killing the 33-year-old father at the scene. The couple’s unborn baby suffered distress in the accident and died three days after an emergency Caesarean Section at the University Hospital of Wales.
Funeral goers described their shock at seeing the hardcore pornographic content, which played for four minutes before anyone was able to turn it off.
“It was absolutely disgusting, the priest turned around to play the video of Simon, but instead a hardcore pornography video was played on the big screen,” an anonymous funeral-goer told The Mirror.
“Everyone was in shock, Simon’s father-in-law was furious, he shouted at the staff present and told them to turn it off. It took them nearly four minutes to turn it off, people couldn’t believe what they were seeing.
“To the priest’s credit he handled it extremely well. He apologized on behalf of Cardiff Council and said that in 30 years of doing the job, he had never seen such filth.
Local priest Lionel Fanthorpe said the family was very distressed by the episode.
“I remember looking up at the screen and seeing some type of video came on and a very loud noise. I look at my congregations instead of the TV screen, but when I heard this noise and members of the congregation moving towards the screen, I realized something was wrong,” he said.
“Members of the family were very distressed, and Simon's father-in-law was desperately upset. Thankfully an engineer came to fix it and turn it off. It seems to be some kind of electronic accident.
“I was extremely saddened for the family at losing Simon and the baby, and this was not what anybody could have ever imagined or wanted. My heart goes out to all the friends and family present.”
A spokeswoman for the family said they would not comment until the local authority’s investigation is finished.
“An unfortunate situation occurred today at the funeral of Simon Lewis and Simon Lewis Jnr which was beyond the control of family, friends and the funeral congregation. Until the investigation has finished in its entirety there will be no further comments from the family,” the spokeswoman said.
A spokesman for Cardiff council suggested the smart TV could have picked up the pornographic broadcast by accident.
Seriously! I hope this doesn't get whitewashed with that excuse; it's pathetic.
“We are carrying out an urgent investigation. There were four television screens used. The TV screen that showed the inappropriate content was recently installed, to replace the one that was broken.
It would have been broken again if I had been there. My cell phone, a chair, something or someone would have gone through that screen, especially if there were children present. The unfortunate report doesn't mention whether there were children or not, but most funerals have at least some children present.
Whoever was responsible for this should be charged with child sex abuse.
Couldn't they unplug the thing?
“We are trying to establish whether the smart TV could have picked up a broadcast by accident from Bluetooth or a WiFi connection. The other TVs were not affected. We are clear that it is not possible for any member of staff to play or download anything onto the computer to be shown on the screen.
“The screen has now been disconnected. We would like to take the opportunity to extend our sincere apologies to the family and friends.”
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