Max Headroom Pirating Incident

The allure of a mystery can really bring out the interest in people, even more so when the case remains unsolved, and even better, the case is real.

The idea for this 1 and a half-minute short to even get a page on the IMDb just goes to show how popular this mystery is.

The bit begins with an unknown man in a max headroom mask. Throughout the video, he makes references to Clutch Cargo, and Coke & Pepsi, before ending with having his backside spanked by another unknown.

And that's it. And for almost 30 years now, it has caused many internet geeks, myself included, to drive ourselves crazy begging for whoever did this to come forward and tell us how he or she did it.

This is clearly intended to be a big meme, and I think it works. It's ridiculous. Gets a 10 from me for the general s**tpost quality of this hack.

Yeah, I'm giving this 10 of 10 stars for pure brass.

I vaguely remember watching WHO as a kid and seeing this, I totally remember the news coverage of it.

It made no sense, I couldn't understand most of what he was saying, I really don't think it had a point outside of, hey look what we did....

... and the mystery continues. So 10 of 10 for D.B. Coopering this.

The Max Headroom broadcast signal intrusion was a television signal hijacking that occurred in Chicago, Illinois, United States on the evening of November 22, 1987. It is an example of what is known in the television business as broadcast signal intrusion. The intruder was successful in interrupting two broadcast television stations within the course of three hours. The hijackers were never identified.

the whole purpose of this illegal footage is all a bit of banter really and not to be taken seriously(of course) i found it a bit uncomfortable because its so weird but after watching it on you tube a few times it gets funnier, because its been 29 years now i think the pirate should turn himself in as long the FBI promise not to press charges

This feels like the ultimate troll prank, as its a literal hijack of two TV stations were the pirates overtook the transmitter. While the first incident is not much special, the second incident which interrupted a Doctor Who episode is quite possibly, trolling at its purest form in the 80s. The jabs against WGN-TV, the Coke reference, the ending, the distorted audio and the effort put in to this!

I assume that this could be the work of an ex-employer from WGN doing this as an inside job, and it really shows! Definitely the most fascinating interpretation ever produced for the public. Seriously this hijacking and the equivalent to make the film from the hijack must've been difficult work, but definitely worth it! Hopefully we will get to see the people responsible in the future...