Dr Mumbo

Playing chicken with the ABC

Dr Mumbo has suffered through his fair share of tech issues, but none have delivered an outcome quite as bizarre as that which occurred at the ABC this morning.

A power outage at Aunty’s Ultimo headquarters managed to completely crash the ABC News website and app, but for some users, this didn’t result in a broken link or missing page, but a trip back in time to 2011.

A select group of lucky ABC fans who tried to access the site this morning were presented with a homepage from 2011, displaying stories about then-Prime Minister Julia Gillard and pop star Lady Gaga performing a surprise Sydney concert.

The entire site was dragged down by 10am, but like Dr Mumbo, the internet never forgets, and the proof was everywhere. Users nabbed screenshots from business pages discussing the Australian dollar reaching parity with the US, and entertainment pages floating the possibility of an Oprah-hosted Oscars.

Even more bizarre was what befell the ABC News Breakfast team, who jumped in to help the News Morning team when their office was plunged into darkness, which perhaps explains why the opening title of the morning news program was … a chicken.

Whether the new avian opener was a result of the power outage or not remains to be seen, but Dr Mumbo hopes it becomes a regular fixture.

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