Reporter sexually and racially harassed in horrifying viral video

A viral video has offered a harrowing insight into the harassment suffered by female journalists.

The clip, which has been widely shared on social media, shows US news reporter Brianna Hamblin being harassed by a man as she and her crew prepare to go live on air.

Hamblin can be seen setting up the shot when the stranger – who doesn’t appear on camera – starts accosting her, saying she’s “beautiful as hell.”

After she politely thanks him for the unsolicited compliment, he asks why she’s on camera.

“Watch Spectrum News and you can find out,” she replies professionally.

He then ramps up his hideous remarks, saying: “You see that’s why I can’t be left alone with a Black woman, or a mulatto chick. ‘Cause I can’t stand these f***ing white girls,” he says.

“Alright. We are done here,” Hamblin then says, attempting to cut him off. “Have a great rest of your day.”

“You are sexy as f***,” the man then adds before finally walking away and continuing his now inaudible rant.

The camera then zooms in on the journalist’s visibly disturbed face as she says incredulously: “Oh my God.”

Hamblin posted the footage, and a lengthy Twitter statement on Friday, calling out the aggressive bystander’s behaviour.

Please be warned that it contains offensive, uncensored language:

In her thread, the New York-based reporter wrote: “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.”

She continued:“1. If you don’t want to be on camera, simply avoid it or ask nicely to not be on camera. Don’t walk towards it or make a scene. Who said this was about you?

“2. ’Oh, men these days just can’t give compliments.’ No. The first man’s ‘you look nice’ as he continued to walk away is fine. It’s the 2nd man who took this to another disgusting level it didn’t need to be.

“3. The audacity of the things men say to me never ceases to amaze me. What makes you think women want to be talked to that way? In no way is this endearing. It’s uncomfortable. It’s gross.

“4. 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.”

She concluded by announcing she would be taking a break  from social media for the rest of the day.

Meanwhile, the clip racked up more than 4.9 million views and 38,000 retweets, as viewers condemned the man’s behaviour as despicable but, sadly, all-too familiar.

Here’s a look at what they had to say:

In a follow-up message, Hamblin thanked the thousands of people who had flooded her with support.

“To all the women who related to this, I’m sorry and want to give you a big virtual hug, she wrote.

“Thank you for sharing your own experiences too so men realise how common and unwanted this is.”