Brianna Hamblin, a reporter for Spectrum News in Rochester, New York, shared video footage of an incident during which she was subjected to "disgusting" comments from a white male just before going on the air.
Hamblin shared the video on Twitter to draw attention to the harassment women in the media industry frequently face after enduring the crude comments from the man.
"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," Hamblin captioned the clip.
'That's Why I Can't Be Left Alone with a Black Woman'
In the video, Hamblin is seen preparing for a shot as a black passerby compliments her appearance. "You look nice by the way," he says to which she replies, "thank you." Hamlin's attention then turns to her cell phone, when a white man passes by and immediately starts making suggestive comments."
"You're beautiful as hell, goddamnit," the man says to Hamblin, who once again politely acknowledges the compliment. However, the man persists and demands to know why she was in the front of a camera.
"Go find a TV and watch Spectrum News," she told him as she put on a forced smile. The man then directs a series of sexist and racist statements at the reporter. "See that's why I can't be left alone with a Black woman," he says before adding that he couldn't control himself around "mulatto" women, a racial phrase referring to people of mixed heritage. "Because I can't stand these f—– white girls."
"All right, we are done here," a visibly uncomfortable Hamblin says. "Have a great rest of your day." "You are sexy as f*ck," the man is heard saying before the video ends with Hamblin saying, "Oh my god."
'The Audacity of Things Men Say to Me Never Ceases to Amaze Me'
Hamblin continues to express her frustration in a series of tweets, amplifying what is an everyday occurrence for women in media.Regarding the first man's "you look nice" comment, Hamblin said it was "fine," but the second man "took this to another disgusting level."
"The audacity of the things men say to me never ceases to amaze me," Hamblin wrote. "What makes you think women want to be talked to that way? In no way is this endearing. It's uncomfortable. It's gross."
"Being a Black woman in this industry has its own headaches, but talking down on one group of women to 'praise' another group is NEVER okay. It just shows you have a disgusting fetish based on stereotypes, which is just as racist," Hamblin tweeted.
She added that she was lucky she was accompanied with cameraman Scott Barstow but most women reporting in the field are all by themselves, which is "not safe" and "scary."
Spectrum News Issues Statement
"We are glad that Brianna wasn't alone in the face of such adversity and we've never been more proud of her," Shari Culpepper, a spokesperson for Spectrum News' parent company, Charter Communications, told BuzzFeed News. "She handled the situation impeccably, remaining calm and professional throughout. We want our employees to feel safe and are constantly working towards achieving that goal."
