Updated on November 30, 2021, 12:50 p.m.
- A presenter was sexually harassed in front of the cameras.
- After the game between FC Empoli and Fiorentina, a man of the presenter touched the buttocks while reporting.
- The fan has since been identified.
Sexual harassment in front of a TV camera has sparked 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 shines a spotlight on the treatment of women – just on the weekend when players, coaches and referees with red on their faces wanted to draw attention to violence against women on Italian football pitches and on social media.
Beccaglia filed a complaint against the man on Monday evening, who was identified thanks to the TV recordings and surveillance cameras. According to the Italian news agency Ansa, the perpetrator is a 45-year-old Florence fan.
“Unfortunately we know that women suffer such attacks again and again, and they are not recorded by cameras,” Beccaglia told the Ansa news agency. “That mustn’t happen.”
Florence fan downplays scene in interview
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 mustn’t do that!” The reporter called after the man after a brief moment of shock.
Beccaglia’s broadcaster Toscana TV announced that this wasn’t the only incident. The reporter was approached by other men moments later.
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. “That is an impossible comment and it makes things worse.”
Fan gets a three-year stadium ban
The police chief of Florence has meanwhile imposed a three-year stadium ban on the AC Florence fan. The fan has now apologized for his behavior.
Beccaglia 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 on the live broadcast with the comment “Don’t get up”.
He told the Adnkronos news agency that he wanted to support his colleague so that she would not get involved in the provocation and worse would happen. “I didn’t mean 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 “.”
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. (awa / ank / dpa / afp)
Bayern player Robert Lewandowski ended up in second place. Messi is once again considered the best footballer in the world, at least when it comes to France Football magazine.
.
