People still remember where they were when many of these happened. Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we’re examining twenty of the most shocking things that ever occurred on live television.
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00I heard them say major malfunction, and then the person beside me said it's exploded.
00:06Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're examining 20 of the most shocking things that ever occurred on live television.
00:13But this time, one fan went too far, and for it he paid the ultimate price.
00:19Tommy Cooper.
00:21Known for his massive frame and red fez, Tommy Cooper was a brilliant entertainer who fused magic with comedy,
00:27creating an act that was famous on British TV.
00:30Unfortunately, he was also a very unhealthy man, being a heavy smoker and drinker.
00:35On April 15, 1984, Cooper performed in front of 12 million viewers on a variety show called Live From Her Majesties.
00:43Partway through his act, Cooper became unresponsive and collapsed.
00:48As he was known for his kooky brand of humor, the audience thought it was all part of the act and laughed,
00:53not knowing that he had suffered a fatal heart attack.
00:55My wife said, oh, there can't be anything wrong, because they would have cut it out.
00:59And I said, no, it's live.
01:01Cooper was rushed to the hospital, but was announced dead on arrival.
01:04He's left a gap, isn't he?
01:06We shall miss him very much.
01:07The Hillsborough disaster.
01:09Welcome to Hillsborough. The sun has come out to greet you.
01:11Live sporting events can certainly end in disaster and broadcast death to millions of viewers.
01:17On April 15, 1989, Liverpool and Nottingham Forest were playing each other in the FA Cup semi-final.
01:23Liverpool fans were only given one access point into the stadium, resulting in a severe bottleneck.
01:29The oppressive overcrowding eventually led to a fatal crush, as thousands of spectators were trapped in the fenced-in standing pen.
01:37The influx of fans caused severe crushing in the two pens.
01:40Over 90 died and nearly 800 were injured.
01:43Three more victims passed throughout the years from their injuries, bringing the death toll to 97.
01:49The tragedy was initially blamed on hooliganism, but later inquiries found that the design of the stadium and the negligence of the police were responsible.
01:57The extent to which tragedy has touched the game throughout the whole country and beyond these shores is apparent.
02:03The Boxing Day Tsunami.
02:05News channels worldwide tuned in to Southeast Asia on December 26, 2004, to cover what is now known as the Boxing Day Tsunami.
02:14The most powerful earthquake in recorded Asian history struck off the coast of Sumatra, resulting in enormous tsunamis that measured up to 100 feet high.
02:22Over the next few hours, the tsunami would crash over coastlines from Southeast Asia to East Africa.
02:28These tsunamis crashed into the surrounding coastal areas, killing over 220,000 people.
02:34Viewers watching from home were given devastating images of the tragedy, like entire villages destroyed and inundated with water.
02:42It was a big, biblical, almost like a CGI event from a film.
02:47The visuals also helped aid in the humanitarian response, with countries from around the world raising $14 billion to help aid in the recovery.
02:55On the first anniversary, ceremonies were held across the region.
02:59Shannon Stone.
03:00The ballpark in Arlington opened in April 1994 and was immediately met with tragedy.
03:05During the very first game in the stadium, a fan fell over a railing in right field and broke numerous bones.
03:11It would be an ominous sign of things to come.
03:14Fast forward to July 7, 2011, with the Rangers playing the Athletics.
03:19A foul ball went into left field, and Josh Hamilton threw it to fan Shannon Stone, who was attending the game with his six-year-old son.
03:27Stone reached for the ball and flipped over the railing, falling 20 feet and landing headfirst on the concrete below.
03:34Our staff were very heavy hearted about this, and our thoughts and prayers go out to the family.
03:41While he was conscious following the fall, he died of blunt force trauma on the way to the hospital.
03:46He was a great father, and they were inseparable.
03:50The Phoenix News helicopter collision.
03:52Tragedy can strike at any time, even while covering a seemingly innocuous police pursuit.
03:57Phoenix stations KNXV-TV and KTVK were both covering the chase via helicopter and airing it live on their respective stations.
04:06During the chase, one reporter yells in surprise while the camera turns to static and a metallic screeching noise can be heard.
04:16The anchor back in the station looks at the camera in surprise and simply states,
04:20We don't know what has just happened right there.
04:22What happened was that both news helicopters collided in mid-air, sending both to the ground and killing all four people on board.
04:29Today, all English-language news stations in Phoenix share one helicopter to prevent further tragedies of this kind.
04:36The safety factor is that those are lives up there.
04:39The death of Dale Earnhardt.
04:41When someone is at the top of their game, it seems like they are invincible.
04:44I'm even stronger this year. I'm working out and staying in shape.
04:47Dale Earnhardt is a NASCAR legend, having won seven Cup Series championships.
04:52But his life came to an end on February 18, 2001, when Earnhardt was racing in the Daytona 500.
04:58Dale Earnhardt has died from a crash suffered in Sunday's Daytona 500.
05:03On the very last turn of the final lap, Earnhardt made contact with two other cars and crashed head-on into the retaining wall at 160 miles per hour.
05:13One of the racers that Earnhardt had hit rushed over to his car and, after looking inside, waved frantically for the paramedics.
05:20He knew immediately that Earnhardt was gone, but his death wasn't officially announced for another two hours.
05:26We've lost Dale Earnhardt.
05:27The shooting of Allison Parker and Adam Ward.
05:30On the early morning of August 26, 2015, news reporter Allison Parker was interviewing Vicki Gardner, the director of the local Chamber of Commerce, about upcoming activities at Smith Mountain Lake.
05:41Also in attendance was photojournalist Adam Ward, who was filming the segment for Roanoke's WDBJ.
05:47At exactly 6.46 a.m., gunshots rang out and Ward's camera dropped to the ground before footage switched back to the studio.
05:56This place is in shock, as you might expect.
05:59An ex-employee of WDBJ who was fired for volatile behavior committed the shooting, killing both Parker and Ward and injuring Gardner.
06:08I find my grief unbearable. Not hearing her voice again crushes my soul.
06:14A manhunt ensued, and the perpetrator eventually took his own life.
06:18A growing memorial at this station in shock.
06:21Daniel V. Jones. After it was found that he had both cancer and HIV, the distraught Daniel Jones decided to take his own life and protest American health care in the process.
06:32To do so, he decided that he would die on live TV.
06:35At least eight local stations did what they always do, sent news helicopters to the scene and broke in with live coverage of the event.
06:42He called the police on himself and proceeded to act erratically on the L.A. freeway,
06:47throwing things off a bridge, making obscene gestures at the news helicopters, and unfurling a protest banner about greedy HMOs.
06:55And then things got violent.
06:57Jones proceeded to light his truck on fire, and after walking around stunned and disoriented, he took his own life with a shotgun.
07:04A lot of the L.A. news anchors immediately called it a tragedy.
07:08All of this was shown on live TV in graphic detail, leading to widespread criticism of Los Angeles news stations.
07:15There was really no way that we could anticipate what this man was about to do.
07:18The 1992 Los Angeles riots.
07:21For almost a week in the spring of 1992, Los Angeles was on fire, and all the various news stations were there to capture it.
07:28This thing is swaying as the minutes go by.
07:31The riot began after the four police officers charged with beating Rodney King were acquitted,
07:36and they continued unabated for six days, resulting in 63 deaths, thousands of injuries, and over $1 billion in property damage.
07:45The riot was extensively covered in the mainstream media, capturing widespread acts of vandalism, destruction, and intentional harm.
07:52We are hearing loud noises. I don't know what they are.
07:55This includes the attack on truck driver Reginald Denny, who was pulled from his vehicle and nearly beaten to death in front of live news helicopters.
08:03I remember the events of that day like it was yesterday. It just does not go away.
08:11Waco. On February 28, 1993, agents of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms attempted to serve an arrest warrant on the Branch Davidians,
08:20a cult running out of Mount Carmel Center in rural Texas. A gunfight erupted, resulting in 10 deaths.
08:26Huge numbers of Americans watched this play out on their television sets, and the ending was incredibly horrifying.
08:34This shooting instigated the Waco siege, with the FBI stationed outside Mount Carmel for nearly two months, while the Branch Davidians remained inside.
08:42The siege ended in tragedy on April 19, when a massive fire burned down the complex and killed over 70 people.
08:49Winds fanned the flames and reduced the entire property to ash within an hour.
08:54To this day, the events of Waco are fiercely debated, with the fire being blamed on both parties.
09:00Regardless, it was a media sensation that resulted in enormous controversy for the American government.
09:06This is not an assault. We are not entering the building.
09:10The Manila Hostage Crisis
09:12Philippine National Police Officer Rolando Mendoza was fired in 2009.
09:17One year later, on August 23, 2010, Mendoza embarked on a tragically mis-aimed attempt to get his job back.
09:24A tourist bus is accosted by a man who at first makes out to be a policeman.
09:28He planned to hijack a bus and hold it hostage until he was given a chance to defend himself in court.
09:34The crisis lasted hours, and the negotiations between Mendoza and the police played out on live TV.
09:40But then Mendoza's brother Gregorio illegally crossed the exclusion zone to speak to Rolando, leading to his arrest.
09:48Enraged by his brother's arrest, which he saw occur through live news reports on the bus, Mendoza began executing hostages.
09:56Nine people were killed, including Mendoza, who was ultimately shot by a sniper.
10:05The Munich Massacre
10:10According to the CBC, the Munich Massacre was the first time that an act of terrorism was aired on live television,
10:16with approximately 900 million people tuning in to watch the events unfold.
10:20It started on September 5, 1972, when a militant organization called Black September raided the Summer Olympics and targeted the Israeli team.
10:29Two people were immediately killed in the raid, and nine others were taken hostage, with Black September demanding the release of Palestinian prisoners.
10:37But like the Manila Crisis, this too ended in disaster.
10:40In Israel, the reaction to the massacre was one of horrified disbelief.
10:45After a failed rescue attempt by the West German police, all nine hostages were ruthlessly executed.
10:51Five terrorists and a police officer were also killed in the attack, bringing the death toll to 17.
10:57I stood there in the room, and the chaos was incredible.
11:00The Ayrton Senna Crash
11:02Formula One and the world were struck a grievous blow.
11:06Much like Dale Earnhardt, Ayrton Senna is a highly decorated racer, winning the Formula One World Driver's Championship on three separate occasions.
11:14The desire to be ahead, to be the fastest.
11:18Driving for Williams Renault, Senna won the first three pole positions during the 1994 World Championship, including at San Marino.
11:26But it was at San Marino that he lost his life.
11:29As Senna was turning the famous Tamburello Corner on lap seven, he ran off the track and collided with the retaining wall at 145 miles per hour.
11:38His temporal artery was ruptured in the crash, necessitating immediate roadside treatment.
11:43Unfortunately, the injuries were just too grave, and Senna passed away.
11:47A doctor later declared that Senna had likely died immediately upon hitting the wall, as his brain had effectively stopped functioning.
11:54His consummate skill, his commanding presence, and his combination of talents literally made him a legend in his lifetime.
12:02Columbine
12:03America stood still on April 20th, 1999, when Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold murdered over 10 and personally injured more than 20 in Colorado's Columbine High School.
12:14Investigators say this attack appears to have been carefully planned for a long time.
12:18At the time, it was the deadliest high school shooting in American history, and its aftermath played out in horrifying fashion on live TV.
12:25Reporters spoke outside the school, and survivors were interviewed after escaping and fleeing to safety.
12:31I don't even know if people are going to be able to walk back into school again.
12:34Perhaps the most famous live image of the shooting was the grievously injured Patrick Ireland climbing out of the library window and falling onto a nearby vehicle.
12:43Ireland survived and became known as the Boy in the Window. So iconic and proliferated was the image throughout the mainstream media.
12:51A beacon of light and strength and courage.
12:54Hurricane Katrina
12:55Natural disasters are fodder for live TV, as news stations try to keep viewers updated on any and all developments.
13:02The winds have really picked up here significantly over the last half hour.
13:06It happened with the Boxing Day tsunami, and it happened with Hurricane Katrina.
13:10Occurring in late August of 2005, Katrina is widely known for hitting New Orleans, where the situation was made worse by fatal flaws in the city's levees.
13:19It's hitting bad right now, Miles. Winds easily gusting to 100 miles an hour.
13:22Most of the city was destroyed and left underwater, and the visuals of such were widely shared in the media.
13:28When all was said and done, Katrina caused $190 billion in damage and killed thousands.
13:34Thousands make their way to the Superdome and Convention Center in hopes of being evacuated.
13:40Christine Chubbuck
13:41The first person to take their own life on live TV was Christine Chubbuck, a news reporter working for Florida's WXLT.
13:49It appears that we're having some technical difficulty.
13:53Chubbuck suffered from depression, which was mainly fueled by her loneliness and inability to find a partner.
13:58With her 30th birthday quickly approaching, Chubbuck fell into despair over what she perceived as a failed social life.
14:05After throwing what many colleagues consider to be a goodbye party, Chubbuck took her own life on July 15, 1974.
14:12TV30 presents what is believed to be a television first.
14:18After reading a series of news stories, Chubbuck took out a .38 caliber revolver and shot herself behind the right ear.
14:25The director immediately cut to black, but it was too late for the live viewers, who had witnessed Chubbuck's final moments.
14:31She's in critical condition in a Sarasota hospital.
14:34The 2011 Tohoku Tsunami
14:36Another natural disaster, more live destruction.
14:39This one occurred on March 11, 2011, when a massive earthquake struck off the east coast of Japan.
14:45It was the most powerful earthquake in Japanese history, and caused waves that measured up to 130 feet and traveled almost 430 miles per hour.
14:54It was the largest quake ever known in Japan, and one of the five largest recorded in the world.
15:00The destruction killed nearly 20,000 people, and hundreds of thousands more were injured and displaced.
15:06It also directly caused the Fukushima nuclear accident, which was also extensively covered in the news, and which also displaced thousands.
15:14The tsunami remains the costliest natural disaster in human history, causing upwards of $300 billion in damage.
15:21It's been over an hour and a half, and we're still seeing large tsunamis moving and hitting the area.
15:29R. Bud Dwyer
15:30On January 20, 1981, R. Bud Dwyer became the 70th treasurer of Pennsylvania, and he would remain as such for the next six years.
15:39Unfortunately, Dwyer was embroiled in a scandal when it was found that he accepted a bribe from Computer Technology Associates to award them with a contract regarding a state tax issue.
15:50After a trial that lasted over a month, both men were found guilty.
15:54He was found guilty, and his sentencing was scheduled for January 23, 1987.
15:59He could have faced around 50 years in prison.
16:02Right up until the end, Dwyer maintained his innocence.
16:05But the day before his sentence was to be handed down, Dwyer held a news conference and subsequently shot himself with a revolver.
16:12He died instantly, with one news camera capturing the event and broadcasting it on live television.
16:18The incident caught viewers off guard.
16:20The Challenger Disaster
16:22Every 80s kid surely remembers the Challenger Disaster.
16:25There was a ton of hype behind this launch, led mainly by the Teacher in Space Project, which allowed New Hampshire school teacher Krista McAuliffe to fly with six other astronauts.
16:34And liftoff! Liftoff!
16:37The project was enormously popular, generating widespread interest in the Challenger launch and kick-starting a cultural fascination with space exploration.
16:45As a result, schools around the country tuned in and allowed their students to watch the Challenger launch live on TV.
16:52But on January 28, 1986, they all watched the space shuttle explode in real time, killing everyone on board.
16:59At 11.40 a.m. this morning, space program experienced a national tragedy.
17:06It was a national disaster of epic proportions, and one that will never be forgotten.
17:11I thought it was a dream. I was speechless for a few minutes.
17:15Before we continue, be sure to subscribe to our channel and ring the bell to get notified about our latest videos.
17:21You have the option to be notified for occasional videos or all of them.
17:25If you're on your phone, make sure you go into settings and switch on your notifications.
17:319-11. September 11, 2001 is a day that will live in infamy.
17:36We believe that a plane has crashed into the World Trade Center.
17:40It's one of those days that people will never forget, where they remember exactly where they were and what they were doing when they learned about it.
17:46Virtually everything about 9-11 was aired live on TV, immediately following the first plane crash and proceeding throughout the following days and weeks.
17:55The scope of this disaster is impossible to comprehend.
18:00Scheduled shows and programs were halted to cover the news, and viewers watching at home witnessed things like the second plane hitting the South Tower and both towers collapsing in real time.
18:10These are indelible images that will forever remain burned into memory.
18:14Thousands of lives were suddenly ended by evil, despicable acts of terror.
18:19Did you see any of these live? Let us know in the comments below.
18:23Over the next few days, we are going to hear many stories of desperate escapes and close calls.
18:28Did you enjoy this video? Check out these other clips from WatchMojo, and be sure to subscribe and ring the bell to be notified about our latest videos.