One of the perils of doing a live news broadcast is that something could go horribly, horribly wrong. In fact, there are entire corners of the internet developed to chronicling the weird things that happen on news broadcasts–particularly smaller stations with fewer resources and less security. Usually they’re pretty hilarious:

But there’s been an incredibly bizarre and very offensive trend taking root in North America and the United Kingdom for the past year or so when it comes to photo or video-bombing local news broadcasts. The name of the movement is “FHRITP” and fair warning, it’s incredibly NSFW.

FHRITP stands for “F**** her right in the p*****.” The trend basically consists of running up to a newscaster–usually one standing on a city street reporting on something–grabbing their microphone, and yelling the above phrase. It can also involve yelling the phrase as you run by or drive by in a car. Here’s a compilation of some of the incidents, although you really don’t need to watch more than a few to get an idea.

While the prank seems harmless to some, it has incredibly weird roots. It started in January 2014 when a video went viral. It showed a young male reporter supposedly talking about a missing 20-year-old girl, and he proclaims that he would like to “FHRITP” when she’s found. The video was later discovered to be a hoax, created by a filmmaker named Justin Cain, although bizarrely, what purports to be the official “FHRITP” website still claims that the incident really did happen. As the legend goes, then a man named “Fred” in Cincinnati, Ohio, yelled the phrase twice during two different news broadcasts. It’s become clear now that those were also hoaxes orchestrated by Cain.

The entire thing appears to have been a ploy to get famous/sell a bunch of FHRITP merchandise. But, that hasn’t stopped people from still repeating the same phrase for the last year and a half. Seriously, people are still doing this incredibly childish prank. It’s caused a lot of problems for newscasters. After all, they’re broadcasting live, and children are sometimes watching the news with their parents. No one really wants to have to hear “FHRITP” screamed into a news broadcast, particularly when its on a topic that requires respect.

So, in order to combat the stupid sort of fake internet trend that won’t die, there have been a few different developments lately. First, about a week and a half ago, Canadian CityNews Reporter Shauna Hunt confronted a bunch of the men harassing her by yelling FHRITP as she was covering a soccer game in Toronto. Check it out in the video below.

Hunt is now being lauded for speaking out against the inappropriate trend. Hunt’s confrontation of the men who were harassing her opened up an international dialogue about how demeaning the trend really is.

As a result of the recent resurgence in dealing with this, Canadian police in some cities have begun ticketing those who shout the obscenities at reporters. While they don’t think they’d necessarily hold up in court, they think the charges will serve as deterrents, and hopefully finally put an end to the disgusting viral hoax. Police have explained that it’s usually very easy to figure out who the people yelling the phrase are, given that they’re caught on film.

So there does seem to be some progress toward stopping the incredibly stupid and annoying practice. While right now most of the fighting back appears to be occurring in Canada, hopefully the U.S. will follow suit. Newscasters don’t deserve to have obscenities yelled at them just because they’re doing their jobs.

Anneliese Mahoney

Anneliese Mahoney is Managing Editor at Law Street and a Connecticut transplant to Washington D.C. She has a Bachelor’s degree in International Affairs from the George Washington University, and a passion for law, politics, and social issues. Contact Anneliese at amahoney@LawStreetMedia.com.

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