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The actress who starred in the video "10 Hours of Walking in NYC as a Woman", which showed the startling level of street harassment faced by women in the city, is now suing the director of the viral hit.
Shoshana B Roberts volunteered to be filmed by a camera hidden in a backpack in front of her in October 2014. The resulting video saw Roberts catcalled over 100 times in the day as she walked around New York City.
According to TMZ , Roberts is now suing the director, Rob Bliss, and the anti-street harassment group, Hollaback!, for using her to promote their agenda.
Bliss was the man carrying the backpack that filmed Roberts, and he came up with the idea after noticing the street harassment his girlfriend regularly faced. Hollaback! commissioned the video, stating that street harassment disproportionately impacts women, people of color, LGBT individuals and young people.
TMZ reported that Roberts did not have a written agreement with Bliss and that she is suing in the region of $500,000. Bliss also said Roberts did not get paid for the video and "she didn't get everything she was promised".
Shoshana did not have a written agreement with Bliss. He wouldn't say if she was paid for the gig, but believes she didn't get everything she was promised. He refused to be more specific.
Roberts is suing for at least $500k, and is also filing suits against Google, YouTube and TGI Friday's.
The viral street harassment video
In the video, Roberts is seen walking through the streets of New York City in jeans and a crew-neck shirt. She receives over 100 cat calls from various strangers she passes. Roberts does not respond to any of the men who shout at her. Many of them call "Nice", "Damn" or "Sweetie", while others hound Roberts to respond to them.
One guy keeps asking Roberts, "You don't wanna talk? We can't be friends, nothing? If I give you my number, would you talk to me?"
Another says, "Hey, what's up girl? How you doing? Somebody's acknowledging you for being beautiful. You should say thank you more!"
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BBC
The weirdest and most shocking news stories Greggs (a bakery) has actually stopped selling loaves of bread You'd have thought a bakery would be the one place you'd be guaranteed to buy a loaf of bread. Well, not at Greggs. According to the company’s website, customers are able to buy white or malted sliced loaves which “are freshly baked every day”. So when one customer went into his local Greggs in Burton-upon-Trent, he was surprised to be told they didn't stock them any more. According to the company, they will now focus on the food to go market, which means most of the bread that the company sells is in sandwiches
AFP
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Google Maps
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AP Photo/Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, Eric Engman
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Nate D. Sanders
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Photo: Cat Protection
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Ian Forsyth/ Getty
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Screengrab via CBS News
The weirdest and most shocking news stories Charcoal has become the hot new flavouring If you want to be in on the latest trend in Britain's restaurants and bars, you're going to have to feel - and indeed taste - the burn. Some words of comfort next time you overfry, overbake, overboil or otherwise burn your dinner to a crisp: charcoal, in all its dark and mysterious forms, is being embraced by some of the best in the food and drinks business. It's not just about cooking on a grill (although that's also a booming market), but charcoal as an actual ingredient – bringing flavour, colour, texture and a touch of playfulness to plates of food and bottles of juice. This news comes on the heels of Burger King Japan's Kuro Pearl offering, a burger with a jet-black bamboo charcoal bun, which met with a mix of hysteria and confusion upon its launch last year. It turns out that the fast food giant was bang on: charcoal is the new, well, black
Victor De Jesus
The weirdest and most shocking news stories Woman claims ski accident has given her extraordinary mental powers An anonymous woman in America has told an incredible story of how she was left with extraordinary mental abilities after hitting her head in a skiing accident. The ex-student revealed that she now has a condition known as “acquired savant syndrome” following the heavy fall on the slopes during a family holiday. The syndrome now lends her incredible powers of memory and the writer explains how she can draw diagrams of “thousands of places, with thousands of rooms, branches and doorways” right down to the smallest detail” in a piece for xojane.com. An individual with savant syndrome will display “remarkable and sometimes spectacular talents,” according Jonathan Hiles, Principal Lecturer of Health and Life Sciences at De Montford University, in an online article regarding the condition
Getty
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ULI DECK/AFP/Getty Images
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YouTube
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Caitlin McNeill/Wired
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Getty Images
The weirdest and most shocking news stories Kim Kardashian breaks the internet Kim Kardashian West has recreated the iconic "champagne incident" image by Jean-Paul Goude for the December issue of Paper magazine. Kardashian West is pictured on the cover of the magazine popping open a bottle of champagne which lands in a glass perched on her bottom. In another image released by the American publication, Kardashian-West is pictured naked from behind provocatively dropping her dress. Two further images were released by the magazine last night which show the reality TV star baring all; in one full-frontal shot and another topless image
The weirdest and most shocking news stories Zombie cat A US cat owner has been left baffled after he claimed his “dead” pet turned up outside his front door – five days after being buried. Ellis Hutson told vets in Tampa Bay, Florida, that he had found his black and white cat Bart lying in a pool of blood after he was hit by a car. According to Fox 13, Hutson told the Human Society of Tampa Bay that he had taken Bart away and buried him, and could not explain how the cat came to be spotted by neighbours a full five days later
YouTube
The weirdest and most shocking news stories 'F*ck it, I quit': KTVA reporter Charlo Greene quits live on air in spectacular fashion KTVA reporter Charlo Greene quit her job on live TV last night, outing herself as the owner of an Alaskan cannabis club and declaring "f*ck it." Having grown weary of reporting the news, Greene told viewers she would instead be putting all her energy into the fight to legalise marijuana in the state, having previously reported on the Alaska Cannabis Club without mentioning her connection to it
KTVA
The weirdest and most shocking news stories Nation in shock as Cadbury's changes the Creme Egg recipe In a bilateral attack on the glory of Easter, Cadbury's has stunned consumers by changing the recipe of its Creme Eggs and reducing their number in boxes from six to five. Reports that the latest batch of Creme Eggs tasted different were followed up by The Sun, wih Cadbury's confirming to the tabloid that it has switched out Dairy Milk for a "standard cocoa mix chocolate" in the shell
Cadbury's
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The weirdest and most shocking news stories Dollar store toy wand has hidden picture of demonic child cutting herself with a kitchen knife A mother in Dayton, Ohio was shocked when she purchased a toy wand for her child at a dollar store only to find it ran not on unicorn hair but a picture of a child slicing her arm open. In fairness to the dollar store (literally called '$.100 store') the product was named 'EVIL STICK', though the pink lettering, fairies, swirls and snowflakes on the packaging ensured it would catch the eye of toddlers. The fact that the wand emits a cackling laugh when activated is probably permissible, the horrific hidden image less so
WHIO
The weirdest and most shocking news stories Hello Kitty is not a cat - she's a British girl The revelation comes from Sanrio, the creators of the international toy, who contacted University of Hawaii anthropologist Christine R. Yano who was putting together a 40th anniversary retrospective of Hello Kitty in Los Angeles. Professor Yano, speaking to the LA Times, said: “That's one correction Sanrio made for my script for the show. Hello Kitty is not a cat. She's a cartoon character. She is a little girl. She is a friend
Getty
The weirdest and most shocking news stories Cannabis-eating sheep munch through £4,000 in plants dumped in bag near farm Cannabis is known to leave its smokers feeling woolly-headed, but it seemed to have little effect on a flock of sheep who chomped their way through thousands of pounds worth of the drug. The hungry hash-eaters came across seven black bags containing the class B banned substance that had been dumped at the edge of their farm in Merstham, Surrey, and started scoffing
Getty
The weirdest and most shocking news stories Tesco cash machine offers 'free erection' because of mistake translating sign into Welsh Aberystwyth councillor Ceredig Davies took this picture after the new cash machine became the talk of the town, explaining that 'codiad am ddim' translates colloquially as 'free erection'
Ceredig Davies
The weirdest and most shocking news stories Parrot returns to British owner speaking Spanish - four years after disappearing Nigel, a grey African parrot, flew away from his home in California in 2010 but was returned to his British owner, Darren Chick, after he was discovered in Torrance, California. Although the Spanish-speaking bird bit Mr Chick when he first saw him, the happy owner said: "He's doing perfect.” Mr Chick says his bird’s British accent is gone, replaced by fluent Spanish – and someone called "Larry". Even though he has no idea where the bird has been for the last four years, he claimed: "It's really weird, I knew it was him from the minute I saw him"
Getty
Following the video's publication, Roberts received rape threats online which Hollaback! said they reported to YouTube to have deleted.
Shoshana said on Hollaback's website, "I'm harassed when I smile and I’m harassed when I don't. I'm harassed by white men, black men, latino men. Not a day goes by when I don't experience this."
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