The Max Headroom television signal hijacking incident took place at two TV stations in Chicago, Illinois, on November 22, 1987. During the incident, unknown perpetrators sent a pirate signal of an unidentified person wearing a Max Headroom mask and costume to thousands of regional area TV viewers.

The first incident took place during the sports segment of WGN-TV’s 9:00 P.M. newscast. It featured a person wearing a mask swaying erratically in front of a swiveling corrugated metal panel, apparently meant to resemble then-popular Max Headroom’s animated geometric background. Unlike a later intrusion that occurs, the only sound during the incident was a loud buzzing noise. The interruption went on for almost 17 seconds before engineers at WGN were able to regain control of their broadcast tower.

The second incident occurred about two hours later during PBS member station WTTW’s broadcast of the Doctor Who serial Horror of Fang Rock. Because no one was on duty at the second affected tower, the signal takeover was deeper and more sustained. The masked figure could be heard making reference to the real Max Headroom’s advertisements for New Coke, the animated TV series Clutch Cargo, WGN sportscaster Chuck Swirsky, “Greatest World Newspaper nerds,” and other seemingly unrelated topics. The video concluded with the masked figure presenting his bare buttocks to a woman with a flyswatter while yelling “They’re coming to get me.” The woman with the flyswatter responded “Bend over, bitch” and lightly spanked him with it as the figure was crying and screaming. At that point, the hijackers ended the pirate transmission, and normal programming resumed after an interruption of about 90 seconds.

A criminal investigation conducted by the Federal Communications Commission in the aftermath of the signal intrusion could not reveal those responsible and despite many unofficial inquiries and speculation over the years, as of 2024 the culprits have yet to be identified. However, in 2010 a Reddit user called ‘Bpoag’ posted an essay claiming to know the perpetrators, along with supporting evidence. Unfortunately the post has been removed from the website, but the comments and reactions to it remain.

The video below replays the entire 2nd incident that occurred during the Doctor Who broadcast.

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