Man fired for heckling reporter
CityNews on-air personality confronts soccer fan over sexually explicit comment
TORONTO — For months, the world’s news crews have needed to cope with a bizarre Internet-inspired trend of bystanders screaming a vulgar phrase into live microphones.
But on Tuesday, an Ontario power company employee was fired after he was seen championing the phrase during a live CityNews broadcast.
The man was among a group of Toronto soccer fans confronted by reporter Shauna Hunt after her live interview was interrupted.
The man, dressed in the garb of a Toronto FC supporter, was not the man directly responsible for interrupting the broadcast, but was recorded laughing as it occurred.
After an exhaustive online hunt discovered the man was a Hydro One engineer, Shawn Simoes, whose $106,510.50 salary had earned him a spot on the Ontario Sunshine List, the utility announced Tuesday it was “taking steps to terminate the employee for violating our Code of Conduct.”
The phenomenon of shouting sexual vulgarities in the background of live television reports started last year with a series of online videos that purport to show local news broadcasts being interrupted with the phrase.
Filmmaker John Cain, who created the series and now sells related merchandise, has since admitted they were a hoax.
“I’m sick of this. I get this every single day, 10 times a day by rude guys like you,” says Hunt in the video, which went viral after being uploaded to CityNews’ website.
The figure who interrupts Hunt’s broadcast by uttering the vulgar phrase has not yet been identified, and quickly exits the frame.
As the video racked up outrage online, it spurred condemnation from groups connected, however peripherally, to the incident.
Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment (MLSE), which owns the Toronto FC soccer club and manages the stadium, issued a release to say it was “appalled that this trend of disrespectful behaviour would make its way to our city, let alone anywhere near our stadium.”
The company said it was trying to identify the figures in the video, and that it would ban them from all MLSE facilities.
In the same release that announced the firing of one of its employees, Hydro One spokesman Daffyd Roderick said: “We are committed to a work environment where discrimination or harassment of any type is met with zero tolerance.”
Wilfrid Laurier University issued a statement that twice mentioned its commitment to fight “gendered violence” when informed that one of the participants was an alumnus.
The university “strongly condemns the extremely offensive and discriminatory comments made to a female television reporter,” it wrote.
Massachusetts-based Cognex Corporation responded similarly when informed that one of their Canadian employees was among the group.
“While the individual was attending the event on his own time and was not at a Cognex activity, the views expressed are totally inconsistent with Cognex’s values, and we find such comments reprehensible,” wrote their director of communications.
The Toronto Police, in turn, have said that criminal charges are not out of the question.
Spokeswoman Meaghan Gray said they have been aware of the phenomenon for a while, but that reporters have not filed complaints. Gray said that, depending on the case, grounds could exist for criminal charges, including mischief, causing a disturbance, breaching the peace or sexual harassment.
Brenda Cossman, a professor of law at University of Toronto, said the incident could fall under criminal harassment, specifically under a section that covers engaging in threatening conduct.
In this situation, however, she advised against criminal charges because “they would become martyrs in a way. They would become martyrs to freedom of expression.”