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CBS Miami sports anchor Samantha Rivera said he's received "an influx of hate messages/comments" in the days since going viral for dealing with an obnoxious fan during her live shot.
Rivera shared a clip of herself fending off a Vegas Golden Knights fan during her live cut-in from T-Mobile Arena after Vegas defeated Florida Panthers to take a 2-0 series lead on June 6, before eventually clinching the series with a 9-3 win in Game 5 Tuesday (June 13) night. Many Twitter users credited Rivera for not only showing poise in a stressful situation, but also landing an impressive stiff-arm, though others, apparently, shared negative responses.
"I’ve been getting an influx of hate messages/comments these past couple days and to those people, I’d like to ask if maybe now is a good time for you to move out of your mom’s basement?? Stay blessed," Rivera tweeted on Monday (June 12).
After going viral, Rivera addressed the situation in an exclusive interview with Sports Illustrated's Jimmy Traina.
"I could see the guy and another guy out of the corner of my eye," Rivera said. "It looked like they were staring at us right before we were about to go live, and I think at one point I saw them pointing at us, too. But we were already on camera, and I was afraid they were gonna take me too early, so I wanted to tell my photographer something, but I couldn’t, so I just kept my eye on him."
Rivera, who had previously worked for NBC 5 Chicago, the San Diego Wave and FOX 5 San Diego as a bilingual reporter, said she had previously faced a similar situation.
"A similar incident happened when I worked in San Diego," Rivera told Sports Illustrated. "I don’t think they purposely ... maybe they did, but it was a man walking his dog, and instead of going around me or behind me, he came right in front of me, in front of my camera, and I almost tripped. So that was the one and only time that was similar and kind of prepared me for last night. But nothing as crazy as last night."