Canadian TV reporter confronts man for 'inappropriate' behaviour during live hit

Canadian reporter Michelle Mackey is calling out inappropriate behaviour — and she's being applauded for it.

On St. Patrick's Day, the City News reporter filmed a live hit at McVeigh's Irish Pub in Toronto, during which a man stood behind her making "inappropriate" gestures toward the camera.

Following the broadcast, viewers came to Mackey's defense on Twitter by calling out the "disgusting" behaviour.

"There’s nothing I hate more than a reporter having a perfect and interactive hit and a really inappropriate person completely ruins it," a follower tweeted. "Anyone know this guy and care to ask him to explain harassing @michellemackey while she’s live on air?"

"I was watching this disgusting behaviour while it was live and it grosses me out how a grown person can act incredibly immature and inappropriate," another wrote. "This type of thing happens WAY too often. More often than made public especially to female reporters. Enough is enough."

Mackey weighed in on the backlash by sharing footage of herself confronting the patron.

"Here’s what happened when he tried to do it again," she tweeted alongside a video of herself telling the man, "You've had your time. Off you go."

In a separate tweet, Mackey said she "wasn't aware" of what was happening behind her while she was being recorded and felt "violated" when she watched the video back.

"I wasn't aware of what was happening behind me but watching the video back I feel so violated. Shocking that people would still pull this on live TV," Mackey penned. "Everyone can see you doing this, your parents, your employer."

"It felt good to tell him off on live TV when he tried it again," she added.

Commenters applauded Mackey for sticking up for herself.

"Even when telling the guy off, Michelle sounds so nice doing it. Very professional of her," someone tweeted.

Another shared: "Handled it like a pro! Kudos."

"Good on you for calling him out," one person wrote.

"You handled it well, just a shame I've seen more focus on this than your coverage itself," commented another. "Here's to better drunk-people-coverage in the future! Here's to the fellah realizing his actions while drinking and maybe taking ownership and apologizing."

In December, Mackey took to Instagram with a selfie of herself holding a microphone paired with a message opening up about approaching random pedestrians on the street for interviews, dubbing it "one of the hardest challenges" of being a reporter.

"Trying to get random people to talk on camera about a subject affecting their community is one of the hardest challenges of reporting," she wrote to her more than 10,000 followers. "You have to literally approach strangers on the street and ask them to do something most people find super nerve-wracking."

"You have no choice but to suck up your pride and keep trying, and when you get a good streeter interview there is nothing more rewarding," she concluded.

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