A female sports reporter said she felt violated after male fans invaded her live cross. Photo / @LGonTV
A female sports reporter said she felt violated after male fans invaded her live cross. Photo / @LGonTV
A US sports journalist was "violated" by drunk football fans while filming a television report during a college game over the weekend.
WTOC 11 Georgia sports director Lyndsey Gough shared a video on Twitter of several fans pushing into her live cross, yelling at the camera and allegedly touching her without her permission as she stood in the concourse of the Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, North Carolina.
She said to one male fan: "Please don't touch me."
She later wrote on Twitter: "Got all kinds of violated during my first live hit by fans.
"After the first guy touched me I started rolling ... this isn't even all of it. So uncomfortable. Can we please respect people's space."
By the end of the video, Gough had had enough, moving to one side and saying: "I've got to move."
Reaction on Twitter was swift, with fellow sports reporter Antwan Staley calling the fans' behaviour "disgusting".
ESPN's Jenna Laine commented: "Many times reporters are expected to do these live shots alone (often at night) with no photographer and no crowd control assistance. Please folks ... we get that you're excited about the game, but as she said ... respect her space. She cannot see you coming up behind her."
A female sports reporter said she felt violated after male fans invaded her live cross. Photo / @LGonTV
Another US sports presenter Logan Whaley tweeted: "I understand wanting to be on camera but invading personal space to do that is when it goes too far. @LGonTV is a trooper for handling that solo and for dealing with the comments after this was posted."
While some were dismissive of the men's behaviour, others responded that there was no excuse for it.
"This is so terrible. 1) No one should be touched while working 2) No one should have their space invaded, especially during a pandemic 3) Men you don't know touching you and invading your space is scary and never ok," explained one Twitter user.
Another wrote: "I don't understand why people think because they see a camera set up they can act irrationally.
"This is our job, no one comes to your job invading your space or acting crazy thinking it's funny."
