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Watch CNN reporter tangle with a raccoon before live shot outside the White House

"Frickin' raccoons, man."
/ Source: TODAY

They crash garbage cans, gardens and now live television shots.

CNN reporter Joe Johns isn't going to take it anymore.

Johns' CNN colleague, Alisyn Camerota, shared a funny behind-the-scenes video of him shooing away an aggressive raccoon near the White House while he was trying to do a live shot.

"Frickin' raccoons, man," Johns said on Wednesday outside the White House.

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"This is what a consummate professional @joejohnscnn is," Camerota tweeted. "Seconds before his @NewDay live shot, he fends off a raccoon attack! Just another day in the nutty news cycle."

Johns can be seen throwing a large object at the critters at one point, yelling "Get!" He grew more exasperated when the animal came back a second time.

"So it’s the 2d time in two weeks a raccoon has shown up shortly after the @NewDay open," Johns tweeted. "I think they’re attracted to the lights. No animals were harmed. I threw something to scare it off. #CrazyOuttakes"

TODAY's Craig Melvin applauded Johns' professionalism in the face of the critter assault.

"Always knew @joejohnscnn was a topnotch reporter," Craig tweeted. "Today i learned he’s staunchly anti-raccoon. Needed this today. Thanks, Joe for keeping us informed and safe."

The raccoon constituency seems to be demanding to have its voice heard at the White House, as Johns isn't the only member of the press who has tangled with them.

NBC News White House correspondent Peter Alexander tweeted that he had his own encounter with a raccoon this week.

"BREAKING: Sources tell me it’s a family of raccoons - including the one that walked under my legs right before my @TODAYshow live shot yesterday," he wrote with an accompanying video of the Secret Service trying to wrangle a raccoon.