Viral Video Shows Local News Reporter Being Harassed By A Man While Getting Ready To Go Live

Brianna Hamblin, a television news reporter from Rochester, New York’s Spectrum News 1, brought attention to harassment women in the media industry frequently face.

On July 23, Hamblin posted a video of an encounter she had with a man who wouldn’t stop catcalling and verbally abusing the reporter while she was just trying to do her job.

When Hamblin tweeted about the incident, she said similar confrontations happen “so often you learn how to roll with it or ignore it.”

The video immediately sparked an online discussion on what uncomfortable situations women have to go through, both professionally and publicly.

The video has been viewed over 5 million times

WARNING: CRUDE LANGUAGE
Being hit on and harassed as a woman, especially as a woman reporter out in the field, happens so often you learn how to roll with it or ignore it. This time it happened to be recorded only seconds before my hit. There are A LOT of things wrong with this. pic.twitter.com/5Ok58Vm7e0

— Brianna Hamblin (@BriReports) July 23, 2021

Image credits: BriReports

Here’s a transcript of it

Hamblin’s take on harassment received support from others who have also fallen victim to it. Kathy Griffin, Rex Chapman, ESPN’s Jenna Laine, Dallas reporter Lynnanne Nyguyen, Lubbock reporter Blair Sabol, and Andrew Baglini, meteorologist for CBS WIVB in Buffalo, NY, were among those voicing sympathy.

As the clip started making headlines, Hamblin shared her thoughts on the situation

Image credits: BriReports

Others said Hamblin’s colleague, Scott Barstow, should have done more by stepping in. In a now-deleted tweet, he reacted to Hamblin’s thread, apologizing: “I can say is it hurts to see this. I’m sorry I stood there while you have to hear that. This isn’t the first time you have heard this. I would say more like the 50th. I know it’s easy for me to say but it’s only words.”

“Those ‘only words’ were hurtful, as we saw when you zoomed in on her pained reaction,” Nichole Perkins, writer and host of the podcast This Is Good for You, replied to Barstow. “You could’ve asked the men to step away but then they would’ve focused on you, right? Best to let her shoulder the burden on her own, right? Do better. Don’t wait for it [to] escalate beyond words.”