A Toronto reporter suffered an uncomfortable interruption while telling a story about sexual assault.
CityNews reporter Ginella Massa was broadcasting live from outside Dundas station in Toronto. Massa was talking about multiple sexual assaults that had occurred on the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC).
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It was during this live hit that a man walked across the camera, behind Massa, and shouted, “Suck my d**k!” Massa kept her composure during the shoot. She later reacted to the man’s remark on Twitter.
Her Twitter was flooded with messages of support.
Sexual violence support worker Farrah Khan wrote, “I’m sorry that happened Ginella, that’s not okay.”
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Fellow broadcaster Ben Mulroney added, “I’m sorry you had to deal with that. Well done keeping your composure and finishing your report. That guy is going to be in a world of regret once Twitter does its thing.”
After the mass response, Massa spoke out in her own article.
“When a man yelled a profanity behind me during my live hit at Yonge-Dundas Square on Wednesday, I didn’t bat an eye, staring straight down the camera, continuing my report. But inside, I was fuming,” she wrote. I was upset. Not only because he had disrupted my work, but also because he was a shining example of exactly the problem I happened to be reporting on in the moment.”
Massa continued to talk about all she could think about was how “paralyzed” the young women who were assaulted on the subway felt.
“A man had brazenly violated her (and other women, according to allegations) in the middle of the afternoon, in a public space, and she, in turn, was stunned into silence,” she said.
“Unable to react, she left the disturbing incident feeling guilty and ashamed, even though she had done nothing wrong. It’s the most common response, according to experts. Men who perpetrate sexual violence count on women being too embarrassed to speak up and call it out. A strange man had the audacity to direct a sexually-charged comment in my direction, in a public space, on live television,” she added. “It was purely for his entertainment, and meant to make me feel uncomfortable. But the last thing I wanted to be was a silent victim to his disgusting behaviour. It took everything in me not to turn around and read him the riot act.”
“I firmly believe what he did was not a joke to be brushed off – it was sexual harassment, and it needed to be called out.”
ET Canada has reached out to Massa for a comment.
