On February 17, 2022, during an episode of the widely watched television series The Bacon and the Noobs, there were multiple flashing images in most scenes, particularly the climax, along with extreme lighting, super-fast images, shaking images, and a quick change in color during separate shots. More than 1,870,000 Robloxians in the United States from the ages of 6 to 29 were taken to the hospital for severe health issues, with 97 of them dying as a result of the incident. It was the first time that a television show had ever caused one or more people to pass away from excessive flashing pictures, and it was also the first time that something similar had ever happened in the United States. Following the occurrence, the television show and the offending episode were immediately stopped from broadcast again. A week later, the show was discontinued as a result of the remaining episodes including similar-looking footage. Since then, the incident has altered the responsibilities of Robloxian television, leading to significant changes to the network.
The television series' creator, Michael Rose, as well as the writers and some of the producers, were accused and arrested of failing to recognize the risks of the episode's potential to cause health problems and epilepsy. The Noob Productions, the company in charge of the entire production, also came under fire and was forced to shut down by the beginning of the following year. Most episodes of other live-action and animated television programs, along with feature films, were postponed, had their sequences modified, or were cancelled and never shown as a result of the episode's occurrence.
Background
The Bacon and the Noobs was a television series that aired from November 1, 2019 to February 17, 2022.
Incident
Episode broadcast
Leak video recording of the scene. This is what caused the first major issues for the viewers watching at the time.
The third-to-last episode of The Bacon and the Noobs, 153rd episode, "The Epic Final Battle," premiered on February 17, 2022, at precisely 2:00 p.m. in the United States. A total of 2,152,539 viewers were expected to have indicated they had seen the program when it was originally broadcast. One of the villains, Mr. Bacon Hair, the group's commander, fired a nuke into the hamlet around the ten-minute mark of the show, causing the first significant health crisis. The nuclear explosion that followed made the entire planet tremble in the episode. In all of the residences at the time, the explosion caused the rooms to be fully lit up before dimming down and exposing the nuclear weapon on screen. The explosion was so intense that it caused the screen to turn "extremely" white. After the first significant incident, the episode's viewership dropped by 20% three minutes later, most likely as a result of people turning off their televisions. Going 24 minutes into the episode, as one of the missiles was going to strike the main character's aircraft, a second significant health crisis happened. The pictures started to change from the characters' anxieties to the rocket itself very quickly. Before the rocket missed the plane and collided with one of its other rockets, the scenario lasted for a total of 15 seconds.
The scenario resulted in a further 10% drop in viewing, and at that point, some had begun reporting experiencing minor health problems including fainting and vomiting, albeit the problems weren't major. In scenes that lasted for a total of four minutes in the episode, a major battle scene took place around 49 minutes in. During the long scene, a number of flashing images, along with extreme lighting, super-fast images, shaking images, and a quick change in color during separate shots, occurred, causing the viewer to suffer numerous health issues and as a result, viewers started to collapse to the floor. The Noobs defeat the Bacon Hairs and prevent them from entering their nation at the end of the episode.
Immediate aftermath
Many American cities started receiving 9-1-1 calls during and soon after the episode's airing, with the majority of the calls being for people who had fainted and hadn't woken up. By 3:00 pm, more than 50 persons had been taken to the hospital with head injuries. Around 3:30 pm, numerous hospitals, mostly in New Blockers City, started to receive an unexpectedly large number of patients complaining of experiencing terrible headaches. When the episode first aired, #TheBaconandtheNoobs was the top trending hashtag on Twitter in the United States, followed by #Headaches, #WHATHAPPENED, and primarily #EPISODE153, which started trending across all social media platforms due to the volume of reports of health problems.
The first TV program to report on the incident was ABC at around 4:30 p.m., more than an hour after the episode had aired. At the time, ABC was planning to discuss the health effects of the Pandemic in a special, but the special never aired; instead, a brand-new special was broadcast in response to the incident. Around this time, all major cities' 911 services were shut down as a result of an unusually high number of 911 calls. As a result, individuals had to drive patients to the hospital and take the bus or a cab for those who had headaches. After the first and only airing of the program, the show's creator, Michael Rose, allegedly stormed up to the producers, who were at the back of the room, and yelled at them, accusing them of being responsible for the current issue. A large fist fight reportedly broke out in the room, according to reports from the crew members. Other reports said that they were yelling at one another. After the event, Micheal Rose immediately erased all of his social media posts regarding the impending show, and shortly after that, Micheal claimed to have experienced a "panic attack" when he was arrested.
As a result, the crew members allegedly excused many episodes from other animated shows to be postponed as a result of the event. All major networks, including NBC, CNN, BBN, BBC, and others from across the world, started covering the incident around 5:00 p.m. Soon after, the hospital started receiving more than 500 patients from other cities, and as a consequence, it quickly became overcrowded. This led to significant traffic delays as a result of the occurrence, probably as a result of people rushing to get to the hospital in time. Members of the production team announced that episodes of other animated series would be delayed in the evening. At around 9:00 p.m., it was reported that 500,000 people had already been admitted to hospitals, along with 5,000 dogs and cats because some of the animals were in their owners' rooms when the first serious health crisis struck. After the tragedy, Builderman, the President of the United States, said that he would be issuing a statement on the incident. Builderman announced publicly that they will be initiating legal action against the production firm for the show at roughly 11:00 p.m.