Kyle and Jackie O rocked by worrying ‘suicide’ call on live radio: Hosts shaken by rogue listener as producers are told to do an urgent welfare check
An alarming phone call from a listener on The Kyle and Jackie O Show on Monday prompted co-host Jackie ‘O’ Henderson to request a welfare check.
A man named Michael made it on air at about 6:30am during the First Calls segment and proceeded to sing a sombre song about suicide – which the presenters were clearly not expecting him to do.
The song in question was Fade to Black by the U.S. heavy metal band Metallica, from their 1984 album Ride the Lightning. The track is about suicidal feelings and its lyrics allude to losing the ‘will to live’ and needing ‘the end to set me free’.
The listener had not warned the hosts he would be singing the song, and had in fact told producer ‘Intern Pete’ Deppeler off the air that he was a ‘comedian’ and ‘had a few jokes to tell’.
Henderson seemed worried and asked the team to make sure the listener was okay.
An alarming phone call from a listener on The Kyle and Jackie O Show on Monday prompted co-host Jackie ‘O’ Henderson (pictured) to request a welfare check
A man named Michael made it on air at about 6:30am and proceeded to sing a sombre song about suicide – which the presenters were not expecting him to do. (Pictured: Kyle Sandilands)
Daily Mail Australia has contacted The Kyle and Jackie O Show for comment but has not received a response regarding the welfare of the listener.
The troubling segment began soon after an ad break with host Kyle Sandilands saying: ‘You want to ring up for anything? First Calls, 13 1065 will get you through. Michael has called in. Hey, Michael.’
‘Hello,’ Michael replied in a doleful-sounding voice, which the hosts noticed was odd as Sandilands immediately mimicked it by saying ‘hello’ back.
When Sandilands asked how the listener was doing, he responded: ‘Oh, not bad. I [inaudible] have a quick ten-second song I’d like to… sing for you.’
‘What, sorry? A song?’ asked Henderson.
‘It goes like this,’ the man said, before singing the lyrics to Fade to Black: ‘… lost the will to live / Simply nothing more to give / There is nothing more for me / Need the end to set me free.’
Michael then sang a line that was not in the original song (‘Never cared for no one else’) before abruptly ending the phone call.
‘Don’t be like that…’ said a confused Sandilands after the listener ended the call.
The listener had not warned the hosts he would be singing the song, and had in fact told producer Pete Deppeler (pictured) off air that he was a ‘comedian’ and ‘had a few jokes to tell’
Henderson immediately feared the worst, asking the producers: ‘Is he alright? That didn’t sound good, guys. What were you getting off air? Because that sounded like a goodbye song to me.’
Sandilands seemed less concerned, telling her: ‘He seems fine. He seems fine.’
Deppeler, who spoke to Michael during the commercial break and briefed him on what would be discussed on air, said the listener had seemed ‘normal’ to him.
‘He was normal to me,’ Deppeler said. When Henderson asked what they spoke about off the air, he explained: ‘He said, “I’m a comedian, I’ve got a few jokes to tell, I’ve got a new song.”‘
‘So he went rogue on you?’ asked Henderson, to which Deppeler replied: ‘A little bit rogue, yeah.’
Henderson seemed worried and asked the team to make sure the listener was okay
Henderson asked Deppeler to ‘call him back and check he’s okay,’ adding: ‘He just hung and said this is the end for me. Just check he’s alright, that guy.’
She then laughed uncomfortably as she and Sandilands scolded Deppeler for having such a morbid listener as the first caller following a two-week break.
The presenters then moved on to the second caller, a woman named Debbie.
- For confidential support call the Lifeline 24-hour crisis support on 13 11 14
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