ESexual harassment in front of a TV camera is causing outrage in Italy. After a Serie A football match, journalist Greta Beccaglia was groped by a man on the bottom while her live broadcast in front of the Empoli stadium. The incident highlighted the treatment of women – just on the weekend when players, coaches and referees with red on their faces tried to draw attention to violence against women on Italian football fields and on social media.
Read F + 30 days for free now and get access to all articles on FAZ.NET.
READ F + NOW
The reporter filed a complaint against the man on Monday evening, who was identified thanks to the TV recordings and surveillance cameras. “Unfortunately, we know that women repeatedly suffer such attacks, and they are not recorded by cameras,” Beccaglia told the Ansa news agency. “That mustn’t happen.”
The footage shows how the man approaches the journalist from behind as he leaves the stadium, spits into his hand – or at least implies that – then grabs the woman’s butt and walks on. “You can’t do that!” The reporter calls after the man after a brief moment of shock. Beccaglia’s broadcaster Toscana TV announced that this was not the only incident. The reporter was approached by other men moments later.
“That makes everything worse”
When a radio station reached out to the alleged perpetrator on Monday evening and interviewed him, he said that he had made a mistake, that he was sorry and that it was actually intended as a joke. He was frustrated because of his 2-1 defeat by his Fiorentina, he didn’t talk to anyone and just wanted to go to his car. “To portray such a bad harassment as a joke means that he did not understand what happened here,” said Beccaglia. “This is an impossible comment and it makes things worse.”
The reporter said she had received countless messages and had a great deal of solidarity in the hours and days after the incident. Political parties, journalists’ associations and clubs strongly condemned the case. The studio moderator of the soccer show also came under heavy criticism: he initially dismissed the act in the live broadcast with the comment “Don’t get excited”.
He told the news agency “Adnkronos” that he wanted to support his colleague so that she would not get involved in the provocation and worse would happen. “I didn’t want to play down the incident.” Nevertheless, the broadcaster announced that the moderator would no longer be used for the time being. Based on the comment, the former Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte wrote on Twitter: “We should make it clear that” we must all get upset “.”
On Tuesday it became known that the Florence police chief had imposed a three-year stadium ban on this supporter and that he had apologized. The journalist said she was not satisfied with an apology. She wanted the man to be tried. “Justice must take its course and determine that this shameful behavior is wrong,” said the 27-year-old.
.
