A CNN Reporter Freaked Out When A Cicada Crawled On Him During A Live Shot

Brood X is out and having the time of their lives in portions of the United States, and Washington DC one of many places where huge numbers of cicadas are making life interesting this spring. And that includes at spots TV reporters frequent for live shots, as one CNN reporter found out in hilarious fashion on Thursday night.

Manu Raju was getting ready to appear on CNN when a cicada landed on his suit and slowly crawled up his shoulder and onto his neck. At some point he made contact with his skin, which is when Raju noticed him and reached back to see what was on his back. And he certainly didn’t take very kindly to the encounter.

Raju shared a video of the “attack” on Twitter on Thursday night and quickly went viral.

“Had an unwelcome visitor try to crawl into my live shot earlier,” he said on Twitter, sharing the video recorded off of what looks like a monitor.

There’s a bit of censored language they bleeped out to keep it clean, but it appears the worst thing that happens here may be the demise of a cicada before it could carry out its efforts to continue its species survival. Still, judging by other reports in the DC area and the mid-Atlantic and it seems there are plenty of other cicadas out and about doing their part.

Raju is far from the only reporter to freak out when a bug lands on them, as many people in his replies shared videos from the past of other on-air talent having the same experience.

Still, it’s a pretty good example of what people in the region are up against during cicada season, and a reminder to those on camera like Raju to expect the unexpected for the next little while.