When someone feels another overstep their personal boundaries, it’s hard to know how to react in that moment. Some will make it clear that this wasn’t acceptable, while others need a moment to process what just happened.
This is especially true if it suddenly happened in the middle of what was supposed to be a normal conversation.
So the response in the moment can be anything from silence to an awkward laugh, but as we’ll see in the story surrounding the full video, that reaction can be the tip of the iceberg that is someone’s discomfort.
On Saturday, Bulgarian heavyweight boxer Kublat Pulev defeated Bogdan Dinu of Romania after seven rounds.
According to ESPN , Pulev received a cut above his eye that could have stopped the fight, but he persevered before beating Dinu hard enough to convince the referee to stop the fight.
This gave sports reporter Jenny Sushe much to talk about and she asked how Pulev kept his composure during the “savage” bout.
At first, the interview starts of normally with Pulev discussing his strategies and the ability of his corner team to patch up his wound.
However, almost immediately after she asked another question, Pulev grabs her face and kisses her on the lips.
This ends the interview as Sushe laughs while Pulev walks away before she says “Jesus Christ.”
Sushe’s video of the short interview would receive almost 1.5 million views on YouTube, which then bled over to discussion on social media.
Obviously aware of the attention the clip was getting, Pulev made a statement on Twitter.
In it, he claimed that Sushe was a friend of his and that his excitement after winning such a big fight compelled him to kiss her. He also said Sushe joined him at a party later on and noted Sushe’s laugh in the video.
This led him to say, “there really is nothing more to this.”
“You may have seen a clip of me kissing a female reporter…”
“Jenny, is actually friend of mine, and after the interview, I was so elated, I gave her a kiss. Later that night, she joined me…at my post-fight celebration.”
However, both Sushe and her employer, Vegas Sports Daily, tell the story differently.
Speaking to CNN , Sushe said that her and Pulev are not friends and met only once for a pre-fight interview. She also said that while he did invite her to a post-victory party, she had gone to interview other boxers.
That party also saw Pulev asking her to remove the kiss from her video.
As she said, “I did not remove it and instead posted it because I wanted people to see what he had done to me.”
“I wanted him to be accountable. I didn’t want him to get away with it. What he did to me was disgusting.”
Vegas Sports Daily echoed the outrage in her statements, adding , “We want to make it clear that women should feel safe and comfortable to exercise the duties of their job, free of abuse, advances, harassment, etc in the workplace.”
Sushe also said that Pulev continued with similar behavior after the video ended.
As she told CNN , she walked over to a table to put her equipment into a backpack.
While she was doing this, she says Pulex grabbed her backside and continued laughing.
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“I did not encourage or consent to Mr. Pulev grabbing my face, kissing me, or grabbing my backside,” Sushe said in a statement.
“I was there at the event covering the boxing match as a professional member of the press.”
“Kissing a woman on her lips without her consent and grabbing her is not acceptable,” she continued.
Obviously, her fans, and women in general, couldn’t help but agree that this situation was unacceptable.
Sushe and her lawyer, Gloria Allred, have asked the California State Athletic Commission to investigate the matter and suspend Pulev’s license to compete in the state.
In response, the Commission sent the following statement to CNN : “On Tuesday Pulev was notified that, before he will be licensed to fight in California again, he must appear in front of the commission and demonstrate that he conforms to this principle of respect.”
Sushe also expressed hope that no woman ever has to deal with this treatment again.
The footage is quite jarring, and anyone can identify the shock on Sushe’s face.
You can watch it here.