Toronto FC takes steps to protect reporters after fans shout profanities

TORONTO – A Toronto soccer team is taking steps to protect TV reporters doing live hits at Wednesday night’s game after several fans made sexually explicit comments to a female reporter at a weekend match.

A spokesman for the Toronto FC soccer team says management has reached out to TV stations and will “allocate security outside the stadium accordingly.”

A video that sparked a social media firestorm showed CityNews reporter Shauna Hunt questioning two men who shouted obscenities into her microphone on Sunday — a trend seen in several other cities.

Her confrontation with two men, captured by CityNews cameras and aired later that day, shows the men defending their behaviour as Hunt asks them why they would publicly humiliate women in such a way.

Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment, Toronto FC’s parent company, says it will ban four men involved in the incident for “not less than one year.” It says two of them are season ticket holders.

One of the men — Shawn Simoes, a assistant network management engineer with Hydro One — was fired by the company for violating its code of conduct.