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This guy went on TV to defend catcalling. Here's what happened next...
LAST WEEK, THIS video was released showing a woman walking through the streets of New York for 10 hours and documenting all the catcalls she received.
It went viral. Very, very viral. So far, it’s been viewed more than 31 million times.
So CNN decided to host a debate on the subject. Host Fredricka Whitfield was joined by comedian Amanda Seales and ‘dating expert’ Steve Santagati, proprietor of the website badboysfinishfirst.com.
It turned into quite the debate.
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Santagati started off by defending catcalls in principle, saying: “This is the bottom line, ladies” and explaining:
He got some sideeye.
He went on to say that he was suspicious of the video, that some of the men in it could have been ‘planted’, and that it was an example of what he called “a la carte feminism”.
Seales responded strongly to Santagati’s comments. When he suggested that victims of street harassment should “act like a strong woman” and tell men to back off, she responded: “Someone got killed for doing that the other day, actually.”
Seales was referring to the killing of Mary Spears, who was shot dead in Detroit last month after apparently refusing to give a man her phone number.
Also, the side-eye intensified.
In fact, the comedian’s impressive range of ‘WTF’ faces has since gone viral:
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Concluding his interview, Santagati also said “bad parenting” was to blame. Since the segment aired on CNN to an overwhelmingly negative reaction, he has been retweeting abuse he has received online.
Here’s the full video:
More: “Damn girl!”: Woman secretly films 10 hours of street harassment by strangers>
More: New video features 10 hours of ‘street harassment’ of a man in NYC>
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amanda seales catcalling CNN hollaback steve santagati street harassment