On the video that was uploaded to YouTube on Thursday by a viewer, the newscaster’s spotlight was stolen when an SUV skirted around the parking lot in circles, directly in the camera’s view. The journalist wasted no time calling the driver out of the behavior. “Take a look behind me,” he began. “Now this jabroni is back in here. This guy has been doing donuts in the parking lot live and now we’re putting him on TV.”
The point? It appeared the donuts were a way for the driver to show off and get some on-screen treatment from ABC 5 for free. The camera continued to catch the driver spinning in circles around one, stationary light pole. Attention was also drawn to two onlookers wearing bring yellow jackets in the background.
“See, this is the way TV works. They were hard at work clearing the sidewalks. Now, they’re standing still, and I’ve got this guy whose peeling out, doing donuts in here. He wants to be on TV, so why don’t we come over this way.”
The video ends with the entire camera crew moving to another section of the parking lot with less donut potential. Still, it appeared the driver continued to cruise around the open land with no regrets.
The YouTube uploader who filmed the news segment from their own television is heard laughing in the background. While the driver’s spinning attempts at TV fame were obviously annoying to all trying to continue their jobs in the parking lot, the viewers appeared to enjoy the wild distraction. A few moments of the broadcast are unintelligible simply because of the viewer’s laughter.
While the distraction wasn’t welcomed by the news crew, it appeared to be somewhat harmless. Other instances of newscaster harassment have gone viral both for hilarity as well as for truly offensive moments. One that stood out in 2020 was a Shorewood, Illinois, moment that saw a man grab a female newscaster while reporting live.
Gaynor Hall, a WGN-TV reporter, was grabbed around the waist by a man who yelled a profane statement: “fk her right in the p*y.” After Hall shared a screenshot of the man on Facebook, he was arrested and later released on bail.
