The cover version of Jump recorded by Karl Pilkington for TV series An Idiot Abroad: The Bucket List has been soundly panned by Van Halen according to the show’s co-creator Ricky Gervais.
The Office star, who produced An Idiot Abroad: The Bucket List with long-time collaborator Stephen Merchant said: “Van Halen are trying to put a stop to it, because it is that bad…It’s the most mortifying thing I have ever seen. I was watching it through my fingers. You know when you wind a mate up and it’s bad and then you wish you hadn’t done it? That’s what we felt.”
Pilkington’s role in the series sees him working his way through a list of things he wants to achieve in his lifetime, one of which includes performing with an American glee club: his back up chorus for the deplorable version of the classic song.
Says Ricky: “He’s doing Jump and he’s so terrible. [An Idiot Abroad‘s broadcast network] Sky have got a blanket agreement…we can’t put it out in America or on the DVD. But they can’t stop us…we can put it out in England. Even if I have to put it out on the web it’s being used.”
