Hydro One says it has fired one of its employees after a Toronto reporter was accosted by men who hurled vulgarities at her while she was recording a segment outside a TFC game at BMO Field Sunday afternoon.
The company confirmed the news Tuesday afternoon after Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment said it would ban the group of men from all their facilities once they had been identified.
CityNews reporter Shauna Hunt was reporting from the Toronto FC home opener on Sunday when a number of men shouted “F*** her right in the p***” in her direction.
At that point, Hunt confronted the men, along with another group of men that was lingering behind her. That second group admitted to planning to do the same.
After video of the confrontation went viral, Hydo One issued a statement saying it hadfired an employee for violating its code of conduct.
"Respect for all people is engrained in the Code of Conduct and in our core values and we are committed to a work environment where discrimination or harassment of any type is met with zero tolerance," Hydro One director of corporate affairs Daffyd Roderick said in a statement.
In a statement issued to CP24 on Tuesday afternoon, MLSE said it is “appalled” by the trend of people interrupting live television reports with the vulgar phrase and vowed to track down the culprits and ban them from their facilities for an undetermined period of time.
"We are working to identify the individuals, and when we do they will be banned from all of our facilities. Moving forward, we will also work with our local television outlets to provide extra security support to female reporters doing live hits at any of our games,” the statement said. “Our organization is committed to an environment where everyone can feel safe and included and discrimination or intolerance of any kind will be met with a swift and serious response. We’re thankful to our vast majority of fans for standing up against such sexist behaviour and working with us to help prevent it in the future.”.
The trend of verbally harassing female reporters with the sexually aggressive phrase has been ongoing for more than a year in cities across the world.
In the video of the BMO field confrontation, which has gone viral, Hunt is heard telling the men that she hears the phrase “every single day, 10 times a day” and is sick of it.
The reporter then asked one of the men what would happen if his mother saw him, to which he replied “my mom would die laughing eventually.”
Speaking with CP24, a spokesperson for MLSE said that any kind of behaviour that disrupts the fan experience or the ability of media to do their jobs will not be tolerated at its facilities.
The spokesperson added that people found to be uttering the vulgar phrase will be dealt with on a “case-by-case basis.”
Meanwhile, in a message posted to Twitter Tuesday morning, Premier Kathleen Wynne commended the reporter for “saying NO to verbal attacks & sexual harassment.”
“Whether or not it's caught on film, sexual harassment at work is no joke,” Wynne wrote.
Remember for instant breaking news follow @cp24 on Twitter.
