· From martial artists who were pummelled to death to desperate politicians blowing
their own brains out, we count fourteen shocking deaths that occurred during live television
broadcasts! 14 – M. N. Vijayan,
· India’s M. N. Vijayan was a respected Leftist scholar dubbed ‘The Scholar who
knew Too Much’. · Vijayan visited Thrissur on the third of
October 2007 to give a live televised press conference. However, the seventy-seven-year-old
shocked the nation by collapsing and dying of cardiac arrest after speaking just a few
words. • Controversies arose after his death, with
one writer questioning why a man known to be suffering from heart disease was brought
to the second floor for a press conference. The Thrissur press club was also criticised
for admitting Vijayan to a distant hospital instead of one of the many closer ones.
13 – Lee Harvey Oswald, • On the 24th of November, 1963, alleged
JFK assassin Lee Harvey Oswald was intercepted and shot to death by Dallas nightclub owner
Jack Ruby. • The incident occurred while Oswald was
being transported to a county jail with tighter security and was shown live on NBC.
• Ruby was immediately detained, but experts say the swarm of cameras present had given
him the perfect cover from which to execute his assassination. This was the first homicide
to ever be committed on live U.S. TV. 12 – Jodon F. Romero,
• Jodon F. Romero was a suspected carjacker who shot himself in the head in 2012 during
a live Fox News broadcast. The incident occurred after Romero led police on an hour-long high-speed
pursuit. • Fox had been covering the chase live by
helicopter. A precautionary delay was supposed to be enforced so that the shot could be cut
away, sparing viewers any traumatic sights if necessary. However, this wasn’t enforced
and Romero’s suicide went straight to air. • The anchorman covering the story was disgusted
by the controversial blunder and said to viewers that it was ‘insensitive’ and ‘wrong’
and that it ‘won’t happen again on [his] watch’.
• An hour after the incident, Fox’s blunder was up there on the YouTubes for all to see.
Romero’s kids saw the clip and an unsuccessful lawsuit was filed against Fox News for the
‘psychological trauma’ inflicted. 11 – Doug Dedge,
• Doug Dedge was a thirty-one-year-old Floridian martial artist who specialised in contact
karate and ran a school for mixed martial arts.
• In 1998, the father of five visited the Ukraine to compete in an international karate
tournament called the Super Challenge. Dedge was pit against Yehven Zolotaryov in a ‘Boi
Bez Pravil’, which is what they call a Battle Without Rules. This is slightly misleading,
as fighters are actually forbidden to bite or gouge. You also can’t bring in, like,
a rocket launcher or a katana, but I guess those rules are unspoken. It should really
be called a ‘Battle with Two Defined Rules and Many Unspoken Ones’, but I digress.
• The live televised match lasted just five minutes. Dedge was pinned down and bludgeoned
with a flurry of punches – fourteen, by most estimates.
• The brutalized Dedge tried to stand, but immediately fell to the mat. He died of brain
trauma and the sport’s violent reputation only strengthened.
10 – Franco Scoglio, · Franco Scoglio was a beloved Italian football
manager who coached at both national and international levels. On the third of October 2005, he appeared
on a Genoa TV station to participate in a passionate, yet respectful discussion with
Genoa president Enrico Preziosi. · While Preziosi was responding to one of
Scoglio’s points, Scoglio unexpectedly lost consciousness and slumped into his chair.
He then died of a heart attack, shocking fans and viewers alike.
· The weird thing about his death is that its circumstances fulfilled the man’s own
prophecy. Earlier, Scoglio had said, jokingly, that he’d ‘die talking about Genoa CFC.’
It seems the man could see the future. A useful ability for a sports manager.
9 – Ayrton Senna, · Fans of three-time Formula One champion
Ayrton Senna were left heartbroken and traumatised when their racing idol lost control of his
vehicle on live TV, plummeting headlong into a concrete barrier while leading a race in
the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix. He died instantly. · A day earlier, another driver, Roland Ratzenberger,
had died in a crash during a qualifying race. The tragedies brought a much-needed overhaul
to the safety standards of Formula One racing. · Aryton was regarded as one of the best
drivers in the sport, so it was a huge loss to his many fans.
8 – Daniel Jones, • The live suicide of cancer sufferer and
HIV positive loner Daniel Jones was one of the strangest and most gruesome events in
live television history. • Believing he was being mistreated by his
health insurance carrier, Jones brought traffic to a standstill by parking his pickup truck
on a busy intersection, setting it ablaze and shooting himself in protest. I’m not
sure that’s the best way to get a healthcare provider’s attention. I think you pretty
much turn invisible to them when you die. • The standoff occurred at three o’clock
on a Thursday afternoon – yes, right during children’s after-school programming.
• The live reporting played out during an interrupted cartoon broadcast, causing furious
parents to issue complaints. After the incident, news directors resolved to stick to medium-distanced
shots. However, car chases are still broadcast live without a delay.
7 – Gareth Jones, • Gareth Jones was a British actor who’s
best remembered for the unusual circumstances of his death. During a 1958 live television
broadcast of the play Underground, Jones suffered a fatal heart attack while off-camera between
two of his scenes. • One of his co-stars noted awaiting the
scripted arrival of Jones’s character. However, when they saw Jones fall to the floor off
stage, the director forcibly urged them to continue the play to its conclusion, improvising
as necessary. • Eerily, Jones’s character had been scheduled
to have a heart attack later in the play. That’s some serious method acting.
6 – Shannon Stone, • On July 7 2011, thirty-nine-year-old fire-fighter
Shannon Stone took his six-year-old son Cooper to a baseball game in Arlington when tragedy
struck. They were seated front row in the left field and had brought a glove in hopes
of catching a ball from Cooper’s favourite player Josh Hamilton.
• During the game, Hamilton picked up a foul ball and lobbed it towards the stands.
Shannon leant over the railing for the catch, but went too far. Live cameras captured his
twenty-feet, head-first fall to the concrete below – all in front of his son.
• The flags at the next night’s game were flown at half-mast and a moment of silence
was given for Stone. • Reportedly, Shannon’s last words as
he laid dying were ‘Please check on my son’. 5 – Alison Parker and Adam Ward,
· On August 2015, fired television reporter Vester Lee Flanagan II took revenge against
a Virginian news station by executing two of his former co-workers on live TV. He also
posted footage on social media of the events leading up to his callous crime, with chillingly
detached commentary. · Five hours after the shooting, police cornered
Flanagan in Virginia where he attempted to commit suicide. He survived his initial gunshot
wound, but died soon after. · Flanagan also left a twenty-three-page
manifesto outlining his motives and detailing the grudge he’d held against the two young
journalists. · The victims left behind devastated loved
ones and hundreds of television witnesses are left scarred from the chilling event.
4 – Inejiro Asanuma, • Leader of Japan’s Socialist Party Inejiro
Asanuma met a cruel and unexpected end while participating in a live televised political
debate in Tokyo. • On the twelfth of October 1960, Asanuma
was violently assassinated by a seventeen-year-old hardcore nationalist named Otoya Yamaguchi,
who rushed the stage. Clearly Asanuma’s highly controversial political views had earned
him a few enemies. • During the debate, Yamaguchi appeared
onstage and stabbed his traditional samurai sword – a wakizashi – through Asanuma’s
abdomen, killing him instantly. The company recording the debate broadcasted it multiple
times so millions ended up seeing the gruesome, graphic murder.
• Yamaguchi was detained at the scene of the crime, but committed suicide weeks later
while in police custody. The incident inspired mass peace demonstrations around Japan and
had huge political repercussions, with the Japanese Socialist Party disbanding completely.
3 – Christine Chubbuck, · Christine Chubbuck was an American TV news
reporter who suffered severe depression and is remembered for committing suicide during
a live broadcast. · Weeks before her death, she ran a news
piece on suicide and visited the local sheriff’s department for research. An officer there
told her one of the most efficient ways to kill one’s self was to use a .38 calibre
revolver and aim for the back of the head rather than the temple. What helpful information
for any viewers with suicidal tendencies. · A week before her death, Chubbuck she told
her news editor that she had bought a gun and joked about killing herself on air. The
editor thought it was a bizarre joke, so changed the subject.
• However, on air during the morning of July 15 1974, Chubbuck covered a shooting
from the previous day. Due to technical difficulties, the scheduled footage would not run, so Chubbuck
shrugged and said into the camera, ‘In keeping with Channel 40’s policy of bringing you
the latest in “blood and guts”, and in living colour, you are going to see another
first – attempted suicide.’ • She then drew the revolver and shot herself
behind her right ear. Chubbuck collapsed forward and the broadcast faded to black.
• Chubbuck’s co-workers thought it was an elaborate joke until they saw her twitching
body. Not something anyone should have to see while enjoying their morning Wheaties.
2 – Tommy Cooper, · On April 15, 1984, millions of viewers
tuned in to see beloved comedian and magician Tommy Cooper suffer a fatal heart attack on
the Live From Her Majesty’s variety show. · Cooper’s comedy act usually involved
deliberately messing up his illusions, so audience members, assuming it was all part
of the act, laughed and clapped along while he collapsed on stage. Efforts to revive him
failed, so he was taken to a hospital and pronounced dead on arrival.
· As tragic as the circumstances of his death were, fans like to point out that he died
the same way he had lived: making others laugh. 1 – Budd Dwyer,
• Robert Budd Dwyer was a Treasurer of Pennsylvania who was caught in a payroll tax scandal in
the early 1980s. He was accused of accepting bribes and compromising an investigation into
payroll tax inconsistencies. Dwyer denied the allegations throughout the trial, but
was convicted in 1986. • On January 22, 1987, hours before his
sentencing, Dwyer called a live public press conference to discuss his situation. He read
a long, detailed note professing his innocence and casting doubt on the justice system, then
pulled out a .357 Magnum and blew his brains out.
• Due to a snow day in Harrisburg, many children were home from school that day and
had their cartoons interrupted and their minds scarred by this breaking news story. This
was pre-internet and Call of Duty, so children weren’t desensitised to seeing such a graphic
scene unfold.