Los Angeles Reporter Stays Calm Amid Cockroach Encounter During Live Broadcast

On Wednesday, Los Angeles KTLA 5 reporter Rachel Menitoff made headlines for a rather surprising incident during her late-night report. While covering a heat wave in Sherman Oaks, an unexpected guest—a cockroach—landed on her stomach and crawled up her neck.

“The temperatures are still in the 80s here in the Valley, making it quite uncomfortable,” Menitoff commented on the weather. This, of course, meant that nighttime conditions were still warm, reducing recovery time from the heat.

Despite the insect’s unwelcome presence, Menitoff carried on with her delivery as the bug hopped onto her microphone before flying away. She appeared remarkably unfazed throughout the ordeal.

The following morning, her colleagues shared the footage and remarked on how Menitoff began to brush the bug off after the live segment. “Oh, oh, I feel something,” she said during the moment.

Her fellow reporters praised her composure, joking about how they might not have handled the situation as well. “That’s our Rachel Menitoff, very professional,” anchor Megan Henderson said. “There’s no way I could have continued reporting.” Reporter Eric Spielman echoed this sentiment, recognizing her calmness in what many would agree is a distressing situation. Meteorologist Kirk Hawkins humorously noted, “Now we’re all going to have nightmares about flying cockroaches.”

In a later interview, Menitoff admitted that she was aware of the cockroach but was determined to get through the moment. “I told myself, ‘Let’s just get through this moment and shake it off,'” she reflected. She added that this particular incident mirrored the broadcast’s theme, as the extreme heat tends to attract cockroaches. “It was the ideal environment for them,” she said.

The footage of the incident quickly went viral, prompting mixed reactions on social media. Commentators praised her professionalism but also criticized the unsightly conditions in Los Angeles. Comments ranged from admiration for Menitoff’s calm to disparagement of the city’s state, with some expressing they would have reacted quite differently if faced with a swarm of flying insects.

As reactions continued to pour in, it was clear that the footage—and Menitoff’s cool demeanor—struck a chord with many viewers, highlighting not just the chaos of live news reporting but also the realities of urban wildlife during a heat wave.