YouTube

A reporter for KDVR, the FOX affiliate in Denver, Colo., was trying to capture a magical TV moment with an adorable toddler at a harvest festival when things went hysterically awry.

Instead of a made-for-TV smile from the boy, reporter Dan Daru got a death stare, and then tears.

Daru, a general assignment reporter for the station, was filming a live spot at the Miller Farms' Fall Harvest Festival near Platteville, Colo., Thursday when he first saw the boy, Drew, playing among the pumpkins and vegetable crops.

Later in the broadcast Daru spots Drew, whom he calls "Drew the Farm Kid," now in his stroller and bends down to talk. Drew is no fan of the close-up from Daru and his accompanying cameras and begins to grimace as his eyes, surrounded by a mess of wild blond hair, dart back and forth to take it all in.

When Daru begins to speak for him - saying, "I know what he can't say right now, but he's saying 'E equals MC-squared…Get the camera off of my face," -it's all too much and Drew bursts into tears.

In a 45-second clip of the broadcast posted to YouTube, where it's already been viewed more than 300,000 times, Drew's father is seen in the background going to comfort his son as Daru slowly backs away saying, "I'd make a lousy politician…That's terrible, that's terrible. I love that kid."

As the cameras continue to roll and his in-studio colleagues chide him for making a baby cry, Daru attempts to redeem himself by dancing and singing for Drew, now much more happily in his father's arms.

The station itself posted the video along with a blog that begins, "Did this really just happen? Yes, yes it did."

While Daru may not be welcome at a preschool anytime soon, he still has a job at the TV station.

"We'll forgive you, Dano," the blog posted on KDVR.com concludes. "And we'll bet Drew the Farm Kid will eventually do the same."