KARK reporter Mitch McCoy tried to show Little Rock viewers what it’s like to be homeless for 24 hours and got yelled at for his efforts, by a homeless man.
Tough situation for @MitchellMcCoy as night falls. He’ll be accompanied by @LRpolice #ARHomeless (1/2) pic.twitter.com/Z2qk3SKGGK
— KARK 4 News (@KARK4News) February 24, 2016
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During the 6 p.m. show anchors Bob Clausen and Ashley Ketz quickly tossed to break after attempting a live check-in with McCoy. He was being followed, and heckled by a man who lives on the street.
McCoy returned a couple minutes later and explained the man was upset and said he felt like McCoy was “making fun of them.”
“One guy who is chronically homeless and suffers from mental issues yelled at our crews,” is how KARK news director Austin Kellerman put it to TVSpy. “According to shelter officials, he yells at everyone. All the other homeless people we came across were cordial.”
Kellerman said the 10- second clip in the tweet above isn’t an accurate representation of what McCoy experienced during the 24 hours he lived on the streets, but “it does highlight what homeless people often experience from fellow homeless people,” he said.
McCoy wasn’t completely on his own. He had security from 7 p.m. to 1 a.m. and also accompanied a man named “Michael” who is among Little Rock’s homeless population.
UPDATE: KARK told us our original headline was inaccurate. “To be fair, I wasn’t trying to be homeless,” wrote McCoy. “I was following Michael, a homeless man for 24 hours.”
“Union Rescue Mission told us about a month ago more than 5,000 people will sleep on the streets in Arkansas tonight,” he said.