Article content

Vancouver police are investigating after a heckler interrupted a live broadcast to hurl sexually explicit remarks at a female reporter.

CTV British Columbia news director Les Staff confirms that reporter Sarah MacDonald has filed a complaint with the Vancouver Police Department over the incident, which happened in the city’s downtown around 11:30 p.m. on Thursday.

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or Vancouver police investigating after FHRITP heckler interrupts TV reporter during live broadcast Back to video

MacDonald was reporting on a group of Pokemon Go players that had gathered in Robson Square when a man stepped beside her and uttered a vulgarity while apparently recording the incident with his cell phone.

That same obscenity is the latest in a viral phenomenon that flared up about two years ago where hecklers interrupt live television reports to yell the comment into a reporter’s microphone.

Staff says he hopes this doesn’t mark a resurgence of the behaviour.

A Toronto engineer was fired from Ontario’s Hydro One last year after he was identified shouting the obscenity during a live broadcast outside a soccer stadium, but he was reinstated after an arbitration process.