EnBocaDe_Todos/Twitter; PolicÃa Nacional/Twitter
It’s happened to a lot of us women. We’re walking down the street minding our own business, when suddenly a man’s hand comes in direct contact with our butt. What do we do?
The answer became very clear toIsa Balado, a reporter for the Spanish broadcast Cuatro, who was allegedly assaulted while reporting a broadcast on live television earlier this month.
Inthe alleged assault caught on camera, a man in sunglasses walks past Balado, and, reaching behind her, appears to tap her butt. After that he asks her what channel she works for.
“Isa, pardon me, I have to interrupt,” Abad said, as the reporter held her ear piece and smiled through yet another flustered moment.
“Did he touch your butt?” her colleague asked with concern.
Balado’s eyes widened with the question. “Yes,” she said, grimacing.
“This idiot!” Abad exclaimed. “Show me this idiot, please!”
Balado paused, brushed back her hair as if to ready herself, and confronted the man as the camera panned to get him in view.
“Even if you want to know what channel we’re on,” Balado advised the man still hanging around. “You really don’t need to touch my butt. I’m broadcasting live and I’m working.”
“I didn’t touch your butt,” the man countered, peering down at her from his sunglasses.
She sighed, and said, “Yes, you did it.”
“I didn’t mean to touch your butt,” the man said, waving his hands. “I respect you, okay? I didn’t want to touch your butt.”
“Vale, that’s enough.” she said. “Please, leave me to my work.”
Want to keep up with the latest crime coverage? Sign up forPEOPLE’s free True Crime newsletterfor breaking crime news, ongoing trial coverage and details of intriguing unsolved cases.
Balado, who did not respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment in time for publication, returned to her report on shoplifting, but that was not the end of her own crime story, which in the days that have followed have garnered support and outrage on social media on the reporter’s behalf, including fromYolanda Díaz, Spain’s Minister of Labor and Social Economy.
“Machismo is what causes journalists to have to suffer sexual assaults like this and why the aggressors are without any type of remorse in front of the camera,”she wrote on X (formerly Twitter). “It cannot go unpunished.” She concluded the post with the hashtag#SeAcabó, “It’s over,” a rallying call to the #MeToo movement in Spain.
As of Sept. 1, at least 40 women have been murdered in gender-based attacks in 2023,CBS News reported.
source: people.com
