Cardiff student goes viral after sharing a video of her being harassed on the street

A 22-year-old Cardiff Metropolitan student has filmed herself being harassed by a man on Newport Road in Cardiff. Emma Grayson filmed the exchange between her and the man and posted it to TikTok, it has since amassed over two million views.

In the video, Emma films herself walking and a man telling her he likes her. In the video he says: “I saw you for the first time and I like. I have a lot of money.” Despite Emma declining his requests and telling him she isn’t interested, the random man continued to speak to her.

After telling him she wasn’t interested, he said: “But you’re so beautiful”, to which Emma responded, “I am very much taken, I have a boyfriend.” The man continues to still not take the hint and proceeds to ask her how much money she wants. Emma said: “I don’t want anything, I’m just not interested.”

The TikTok clip is one minute out of a ten minute ordeal, which she titled: “No means no”. Speaking with the BBC, Emma shared that she felt “very scared” and “uncomfortable”. She said: “It was a very scary situation because I didn’t know if he had anything on him like a weapon. I don’t know this guy so I couldn’t just assume that he didn’t have anything on him. It was best for me  just to stay calm and that’s how I dealt with it. I don’t think I realised how bad it was until I watched it back.”

via Instagram @emmalouisegrayson

Emma’s video has more than two million views and 280,000 likes, and a wave of negative comments she says has surprised her. Some of the comments she received were from other TikTok users saying she must have been wearing a “skimpy outfit” or that she was “asking for it”. Emma said: “From that short clip of a minute, I don’t know how people have assumed that stuff. I didn’t expect them to comment on that. I thought they would comment on his behaviour, not mine.”

The fashion marketing student hopes her experience can be part of a wider conversation that needs to be had about harassment and inappropriate behaviour. South Wales Police said they “would encourage anyone who has been subjected to violence, harassment and intimidation” to contact them via 999.

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Featured image credit via Instagram @emmalouisegrayson.