A New York actress who volunteered to appear in a public service announcement depicting street harassment was threatened online soon after the clip debuted Tuesday, according to Hollaback, the organization which commissioned the troubling film clip.
“The subject of our PSA is starting to get rape threats on the comments. Can you help by reporting them?” @iHollaback tweeted Tuesday.
The plea worked, said Hollaback deputy director Debjani Roy: “Our community is reporting the threats on YouTube and they’re being deleted.”
Shoshana B. Roberts, whose bio describes her as “a bubbly and bold New York City-based actress with a black belt,” was harassed more than 100 times in a 10-hour period during filming, according to the video.
The video showed shows men catcalling Roberts, who was garbed in jeans and a crew neck shirt, sharing any number of “Damn!” “Smile!” and “Hey Baby”s. One man followed her for five minutes.
The simple one-minute plus documentary was the brainchild of Rob Bliss Creative, who reached out to Hollaback!, and filmed with the aid of a camera embedded in a backpack on a person walking ahead of her.
“The rape threats indicate that we are hitting a nerve,” said Hollaback director Emily May. “We want to do more than just hit a nerve though, we want New Yorkers to realize — once and for all — that street harassment isn’t OK, and that as a city we refuse to tolerate it,” she said.
