Ms. Mackey should have exercised her inner "Avril Lavigne" .. 

I think I read somewhere that he made an obscene hand gesture to the camera while she was doing her stand-up, although it's not on that particular video snippet. But just his presence behind her was stalker-y and kind of creepy.

Doing live hits at these kinds of events is always a bit of a crapshoot, whether it's St. Patrick's Day or a sporting event where there's been some alcohol consumed. You just never know what some jackass is going to do when you're not expecting it.

I remember we used to send out an extra body as security whenever a reporter was exposed and out in the open, to kind of intercept these idiots. But I'm guessing with cutbacks etc., there simply isn't enough staff to provide that service anymore.  

But even then, you never know. One night a long time ago, we took a weather shot (no reporter, just a scene setter) out on, I think it was Queen St. It was the middle of a very warm summer afternoon and right at that second, and I believe purely by chance as he had no way of knowing when we were going to it live, a guy walked by the camera during the 6 PM news stark naked. What he was doing out on the street in that condition we never did figure out. 

It was so obvious that the anchor had to come back on and apologize for those who saw "something we didn't mean to show." But that's one of the dangers of live TV, even when a reporter isn't present. It gave a whole new meaning to the term news "flash!"

If you choose to go outside to cover a live hurricane...hurricane shit is bound to happen...

This story outlines a little more about what the guy did. 

Reporter Shuts Down Man For Making Lewd Gesture Behind Her On Live TV