A TV news reporter in Canada is recovering after suffering what appeared to be a medical episode while she did a live standup on Jan. 8.
Jessica Robb was doing a live report for CTV Edmonton when the incident occurred during a segment that has since made the rounds online. The first 10 seconds appeared to go off without any issues, but Robb caught her breath after that and had trouble getting her words out before she explained what was happening.
“I’m not feeling very well right now and I’m about to …” she said, not finishing her thought before anchor Nahreman Issa cut her off.
“OK, we’ll come back to you. Right now, we’ll make sure that Jessica, you are doing OK,” Issa said, while Robb appeared to lose her balance.
“We will give you guys an update a little bit later to make sure that she is doing alright,” she added.
That night, CTV Edmonton shared an update that Robb was better.
“PROGRAMMING NOTE: Thanks to everyone who inquired about our reporter who became ill during the 6 p.m. News. Jessica Robb is feeling better and is now resting,” the station tweeted.
The next day, Robb posted an update through CTV Edmonton's Twitter account.
“On Sunday night, a very personal and vulnerable moment unfolded as I reported live on air,” she said in her statement. “Since then, it has been shared thousands of times, along with baseless theories about the cause.”
Robb also thanked everyone for sending along their best wishes to her, while noting many people haven’t been kind.
“I have also received an overwhelming amount of harassment and hatred, tied to false theories about the reason for the incident,” she wrote.
“While I will not share private medical information publicly, I can say that there is no cause for concern, and that my understanding of my own medical background provides a reasonable explanation for what happened. I can, however, confirm that the situation was in no way related to the COVID-19 vaccine.”
Robb is not the first TV reporter to experience a health issue during a broadcast.
In September 2022, Julie Chin, an anchor with Tulsa, Oklahoma, NBC affiliate KJRH suffered what she said were the the beginning stages of a stroke during a live broadcast while she tried to read a story, noting later that there were no warning sign in advance.
"When it comes to anything medical, if you think you need help, if something's really not right, don't be afraid to ask for help," she told TODAY's Savannah Guthrie and Hoda Kotb a few days after the episode.