A New Zealand journalist has come under fire after publicly naming and shaming two young men who interrupted her broadcast during a live cross at the Auckland leg of Laneway Festival.
As Stuff reports, TV3’s Kim Vinell had her broadcast interrupted by two drunk men, Sean Philip and Terry Insull, with one of them yelling out the viral phrase, “fuck her right in the pussy”.
Vinnell responded to the incident by issuing a video statement the next day condemning the duo’s behaviour, saying, “Anyone should be able to go to their place of work and not be accosted.”
“It’s kind of a right. I know that this phrase that this guy used has been popular on the internet, but it still doesn’t make it okay,” Vinell continued.
Vinnell then tracked the men down to discuss the incident, during which Philip explained that women should not report from music festivals and dismissing the incident as a “friendly joke”.
“Next time, have a male presenter if you’re going into a Laneway festival because shit like that gets pretty hectic,” he said.
Shockingly, the bulk of criticism surrounding the incident has been aimed at Vinnell and not at Philip and Insull, with commenters on social media slamming Vinnell for “vapid” reporting.
Whilst Vinnell has received support, other commenters have dismissed the incident as simply a bit of humorous fun and criticising Vinnell’s reporting, a claim she has since responded to.
“For all those commenting that I only cover ‘vapid’ news, where was your feedback when I was filing this,” Vinnell wrote, linking to her coverage on the dangers facing women under Isis.
“People haven’t *actually* said that to you?” one commenter wrote in reply. “What cretins. I was so appalled at their [the Laneway louts] actions and that you had to deal with that.”
[include_post id=”455980″]
Meanwhile, Philip and Insull have been celebrating their notoriety, even changing their Facebook profile pictures to screenshots from the broadcast of the incident.
Vinnell’s partner, radio host Richie Hardcore, condemned the two men in an angry blog post, writing “Why should women and girls learn to laugh it off?”
“Why is that an even a thing, that it’s ok to make someone feel shitty and females should just deal with it? Why aren’t boys and men learning not to sexually harass and intimidate women and girls?”
Following last night's live cross incident, Kim Vinnell has this response…
Posted by Story onMonday, February 1, 2016
