A female reporter was taken aback when a man approached her and boldly groped her during a live broadcast. A confrontation ensued, and eventually, the creep learned just how big of a mistake he had made, putting his unwelcome and unwanted hands on a woman while cameras were rolling.
Isa Balado, a television reporter for the Spanish channel Cuarto, was in the middle of a live broadcast from the streets of Madrid when things took an unexpected turn. While reporting on a story about local store clerks who beat up a suspected thief, a man in sunglasses shockingly accosted Balado from behind.
After grabbing her butt, the sunglass-wearing creep asked the reporter which television station she worked for as if nothing he had just done to her was out of the ordinary or inappropriate. Balado explained that she was in the middle of a live television broadcast and tried to continue her news coverage, but another man wasn’t about to let the buttocks fondling creep get away with what he had just seen.
“Isa, sorry to interrupt, did he just touch your butt?” host Nacho Abad asked from the news studio, to which Balado replied, “Yes,” while donning an obviously uncomfortable smile. Abad then insisted that Balado put the alleged groper, who he referred to as an “idiot,” on camera, the NY Post reported.
“As much as you want to ask us which channel we work for, do you really have to touch my ass?” Balado asked the man, confronting him over his bad behavior. “I’m doing a live show, and I’m working,” the reporter added. Reminiscent of the “Wasn’t Me” pop song from 2000 by Reggae artist Shaggy, the man denied touching Balado, forgetting that she even caught him on camera.
With evidence on her side, including video footage, Balado didn’t back down. Instead, she insisted that he did touch her, finally forcing a weak apology from the man. “Sorry,” he said and tried to shake her hand, but the reporter wasn’t about to welcome any more of his unwanted touch and chose to brush him off instead, asking him to just let her do her job.
Sadly, the creep didn’t take the hint. Rather than attempting to bow out gracefully, the jerk attempted to ruffle the reporter’s hair as he walked away. Balado ducked out of the way, prompting host Abad to call out the man again, this time aptly labeling him “stupid.” As Abad expressed his shock over the man’s behavior, Balado tried to apologize for the incident, but the host wasn’t about to let her do that.
“No, you have nothing to feel sorry for. It makes me so mad,” Abad told Balado from the news studio. Meanwhile, the person who should be sorry — the handsy man — continued to linger in the street with Balado alleging that she was not the only target of the creep’s unwanted advances.
“It’s not just me, it’s happening to every woman he comes across,” Isa Balado explained, admitting that the encounter with the man had made her nervous. That’s when things went from bad to worse with the man approaching the reporter again, telling her that he heard her accusations and that she should “tell the truth.”
Not wanting to give the man any more attention, Balado asked for the studio to cut the live broadcast after the guy had approached the reporter for a second time to deny her allegations of his misconduct. However, those in the studio had a better idea. Channel Cuatro immediately called the police. The 25-year-old suspect was arrested on sexual assault charges and taken away in handcuffs minutes later.
The incident not only provoked a public outcry in Spain but it was also condemned by government officials, including Spain’s Labor Minister Yolanda Diaz, who said that the alleged on-air assault should not go unpunished. “It is machismo that makes journalists suffer sexual assaults like this, and the aggressors are unrepentant in front of the camera,” Diaz wrote on social media.
The assault was also denounced by Mediaset Espana, which owns Cuatro and said it “categorically repudiates any form of harassment or aggression.” And, make no mistake, that’s exactly what this was. It wasn’t innocent or harmless. It was an assault by the very definition, and unwanted physical contact is a crime.
If this guy was after 15 minutes of fame, he definitely got it, and then some. He will go down as the guy who was stupid enough to commit sexual assault on live TV and who had to learn the hard way that he needs to keep his hands to himself. Let this be a lesson to anyone else who assumes they can touch others without their permission and consent. You can’t. It’s not cute. It’s creepy.
