Tiger mauls boy at theme park
Here’s the AP’s take on it:
Father: Costumed ‘Tigger’ hit my son
ORLANDO, FL (AP) — “Tigger” may be in trouble. A Walt Disney World employee dressed as the cartoon character is accused of hitting a child while posing for a photo.
A spokeswoman says park officials have temporarily suspended the employee while they investigate the accusations. Authorities say Jerry Monaco of New Hampshire videotaped his son posing with Tigger at Disney-MGM Studios on Friday and recorded the confrontation.
A sheriff’s spokesman says the father claims the employee intentionally hit his son “on or about the head,” but that the tape “only shows a fraction of what happened.”
In 2004 a Walt Disney World employee dressed as Tigger was accused of touching the breast of a 13-year-old girl while she posed with him for a photo. A jury found the man not-guilty.
Is anyone really shocked that Tigger would be the bad boy of the Magic Kingdom?
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If you watch the kid’s hand, you’ll see that he is doing something behind the back of Tigger right before Tigger “attacks” him. Tigger’s head strike is in response to that – he locks up the kids arm behind his back to stop him from doing whatever he is doing, and then brings the other arm around to reinforce the hold. If someone was doing something mean and nasty behind my back, I would do the same thing, only harder. I’m no Disney fan, but this is just another case of a punk kid doing something that he shouldn’t, and a ridiculous parent trying to profit from the situation.
Comment by Jonathan — January 9, 2007 @ 8:33
Eh, I’m not convinced that Tigger was doing anything malicious. At worst, it looked like his vision wasn’t great and his hand was just a little too far out as he reached for the kid’s shoulder, accidentally slapping him? Too bad we don’t get the employee’s version of the events.
Comment by Jenn — January 12, 2007 @ 14:57
And we’ll never get it either. As soon as the mainstream press realizes that this is something that has reached it’s limits of sensationalization (is that a word?), we’ll never hear about it again…
Comment by Jonathan — January 13, 2007 @ 9:14