Man arrested for touching Spanish journalist’s bottom live on air

By Iyojo Ameh

The Police in Spain has arrested a man on suspicion of sexual assault after he appeared to touch a TV journalist on the bottom as she was reporting live from the streets of Madrid.

The said man approached Isa Balado, a journalist for the “En boca de todos” program on Spain’s Cuatro channel, as she was reporting on an alleged robbery on Tuesday.

The man according to report approached the lady and then touched her bottom as she’s talking to presenter Nacho Abad in the studio.

Despite the incident, Balado tried to continue with her work, but Abad asked her if the man had just touched her bottom and she said yes.

“Do you really need to touch my bum?” she asked, before telling him that she’s live on television.

He continued to talk to her, before reaching his hand out to rub her on the head and then eventually walking away.

In a later video segment, Balado commented on what had happened.

“It’s very unpleasant, particularly when you are working, and these things happen,” she said, before the camera panned to show the man standing on the street with another man.

The incident sparked widespread condemnation from Spanish politicians, including labor minister Yolanda Díaz.

“Machismo means that journalists suffer sexual assaults like this and that the aggressors appear in front of the camera unrepentantly,” Díaz wrote in a Tuesday post on X, formerly known as Twitter. “This can’t go unpunished.”

The incident comes as Spain is facing a reckoning over sexual assault and gender based violence after Luis Rubiales, president of the Spanish soccer federation, was accused of kissing Women’s World Cup winner Jennifer Hermoso without consent.

Rubiales resigned from his position on Sunday following weeks of fierce criticism.

The unwanted kiss on Hermoso came after the Spanish team’s victory in the Women’s World Cup final on August 20, and sparked condemnation in Spain and across the world.

The 46-year-old previously apologized and described the kiss as “mutual” – a claim Hermoso denied, saying she did not consent and was not respected.