A 20-year-old man from Illinois was charged with battery and disorderly conduct after he grabbed a female reporter and shouted a vulgar obscenity during a live broadcast.
The Chicago Tribune reported that Eric Farina grabbed WGN-TV reporter Gaynor Hall by her shoulders on Saturday night and "uttered a profane and disturbing statement."
The lewd statement Farina said on air was:
"F'k her right in the pussy."
FHRITP is a phrase that has been used to harass female reporters—which according to one perpetrator criminally charged for harassing CHCH reporter Britt Dixon was:
"Because everybody in the United States says that."
A video clip of Farina grabbing Hall circulated on Twitter.
No one laughed at his vile stunt.
Hall posted a screenshot of her aggressor on Facebook and wrote:
"A brief note to the young man who jumped in my liveshot tonight: It was not funny."
"You violated my personal space. You grabbed me. You scared me. Was it worth it?"
Shorewood police said Farina made a "full confession" after he was found at his Minooka home the day after the incident.
After charges were filed, he was released on a $2,500 recognizance bond.
Hall later updated her Facebook post and thanked her supporters for helping the police find and arrest Farina.
FHRITP allegedly started as a hoax by a filmmaker making videos of fake news reporters being harassed by a hooded older man named "Fred," who would use the despicable phrase that objectifies women.
Videos of the staged heckling became viral and have prompted other men to degrade female journalists reporting live by using the phrase.
