Shoshana Roberts, the actress who became an overnight sensation on YouTube with her ‘Catcall’ video, has decided to deal with the negative backlash her way.
The video shows the actress walking around New York City for 10 hours, receiving a multitude of catcalls from men. The response was phenomenal, and while most of it was positive, some of the reaction to the video that had the intention of bringing awareness to what women face has been surprisingly negative, including threats of rape.
“There are lots of mean people in this world and there are threats,” Roberts told Access Hollywood Live‘s Billy Bush and Kit Hoover on Monday.
Roberts said she decided to let others deal with the backlash, so she doesn’t have to take things personally.
“I have had my people going through all of the e-mails and the social media. Fortunately, I haven’t had to read most of them first hand. It’s friends and family telling me the important things that I need to be aware of for my safety,” she said.
Fox News responds to the Shoshana Roberts street harassment video with their own catcall http://t.co/MRaQon8x8P pic.twitter.com/3a9ZobTas6
— The Independent (@Independent) October 30, 2014
The video produced by Hollaback! and director Rob Bliss has received more than 31 million views.
“It’s the majority of people that support me and are proud of me and are behind me and want to share their stories. I encourage everyone to share their stories ’cause again, my story is not unique,” she said.
Roberts said she recreated her daily routine as she walked the streets of New York, taking her familiar routes she took to work. She said her experiences of receiving catcalls from men are not “unique” to her, but happen to millions of women every day.
“This is my story that I’m telling, but my story isn’t unique,” Roberts said. “So many people all over the world are dealing with this.”
