"Apology? Who told you to accept an apology? I didn't tell you to accept an apology. Someone hits you, and you accept an apology? This is a public humiliation!"
Posted on 01/08/2007 7:10:02 PM PST by MotleyGirl70
ORLANDO, Fla. -- A confrontation between a costumed Tigger and a child at Walt Disney World that led to a sheriff's investigation and the suspension of the character is grabbing national headlines and was featured on CBS's 'The Early Show' Monday.
The incident happened over the weekend when Jerry Monaco, of New Hampshire, and his family visited Disney-MGM Studios. During a photo with a "Tigger" character, the man in the costume, Michael J. Fedelem, was videotaped apparently throwing a punch at Monaco's son, Jerry Jr., Local 6 reported.
Monaco said he took his son to the hospital Saturday to be treated after the alleged hit. Monaco also told Hannah Storm of the "The Early Show" Monday that the character "sucker-punched" his son.
"As we were posing for pictures and I attempted to get in a shot with Tigger when he stuck his arm out and I figured the photographer could get a shot with me and my two little guys," Monaco said. "At that point he started bumping into me, so I started apologizing to him and I figured I would get out of his way because I figured it was hot out and give him some space. So, at that point I backed off and I went to take some home video of the rest of the family with him and that is when you see what happened. Out of nowhere, he ended up clocking my son. He sucker-punched him."
Monaco also told Storm that the costumed character showed annoyance toward a young girl when his handler stepped away just before his family approached.
"There is no question the costumed character hit the teen at Disney," Local 6's Tiffany Tift said. "But what is in question is the motive."
Some are calling the punch an accident and others said the video shows retaliation by the Tigger character, Local 6 News reported.
In a statement made to the sheriff's office, Fedelem said he was acting in self-defense. He claims that the child was pulling on his costume, causing him to lose his breath, according to the Local 6 News report.
Monaco filed an incident report with the Orange County Sheriff's Office and the department is investigating the incident.
"You don't come here for this," Monaco said. "Disney is supposed to be a safe place. It is supposed to be a place where you come and spend time with your family. How hard did he hit you, (son)?"
"Pretty hard," Jerry Monaco Jr. replied. "I could still feel it even though he was wearing the padded gloves."
Monaco said he noticed the alleged attack was unprovoked after looking at the video.
"At first I was upset at my son," the elder Monaco said. "I thought he did something to Tigger. But then I review it and it is pretty clear, for no reason he just clocked him in the face."
Disney officials called the family after the incident, the report said.
"I just wanted to follow up with you and let you know that we have spoken to the cast member in question and have reacted very strongly toward him," a man who identified himself as Jean Erik Redrupp, general manager of Park Operations at Disney-MGM Studios, said in a phone recording.
Disney also released a statement over the incident: "We received the complaint alleging that a character struck a guest; guest and character altercation is not tolerated. The Orange County sheriff is launching an investigation and we are conducting our own investigation and we have suspended the cast member pending the outcome."
"The general manager apologized to me," the elder Monaco said. "Everybody will come up and apologize to me but Tigger. He won't be a man about it and get out of the costume and come out and apologize to my son. I didn't want VIP treatment. I didn't want an extra day at Disney. I didn't want any of that. I wanted him to apologize and that is the one thing that they won't do."
Watch Local 6 News for more on this story.
The immediate trip to the hospital is also telling. Not the first aid station, not the medics, but the hospital.
OK, who let Grumpy wear the Tigger suit?
(Just send out Bashful or Dopey to the family to make amends.)
That being said, I did used to fantasize about taping a "kick me" sign to Winnie the Pooh's butt just to be a jerk ... ;^ ) Had Pooh whacked me a good 'n, I'd have deserved it.
In the video, it looked to me like the twerp was trying to pull the zipper on the back of Tigger's suit. It's cute when a three year old yanks Santa's beard, but not so much when it's a high school student. Anyway, it's hard to see in those suits. Tigger probably just meant to push the turd's shoulder to get his arm away. Not that that qualified as a punch in my book. I hope this family of wannabe hucksters receives nothing but national humiliation and a lifetime ban from Disney Land.
Along those same lines see my post #6.
My husband worked at Disneyland when he was in college. They had orders to keep an eye on the employees in character costumes. The costumed employees can be male or female. There have been times when someone will grab and grope a character. Children have his them and if you look at the picture the kid has his hand behind tigger and doesn't move it until he is hit. He could have discovered a bra strap under the costume and was harrassing the character even as his parents filmed. Look at his expression, he is up to no good.
D'oh should have read incident report, the actor was a man.
The father is still a scumbag.
Well, if you look at what they did for the family, it wasn't anything that really cost them money -- just free passes to the park, some special access, that kind of thing.
It still cuts into profits, but is probably one of the few things the local management has the authority to award independent of senior approval.
Lucky e-Gore didn't hoof-em and Tigger was de-clawed and Owl didn't poop on their heads.
Nothing worse than being attacked by all the Disney characters,....(the kid will probably have nightmares about mean little dwarves.) /sarc off
"Apology? Who told you to accept an apology? I didn't tell you to accept an apology. Someone hits you, and you accept an apology? This is a public humiliation!"
Offering a family an extra day walking in your park that they weren't planning to do or pay for can actually MAKE you money, because they will buy stuff.
I'm a frequent theme parker, with season passes to one or two park groups every year, and I'm continually amazed at how much money I spend in a day at the park, given that it's "free" to be there.
This is why with most parks, you can get a season pass for less than the price of two full-day tickets. I realise this isn't true for Disney, which has an entirely different pricing structure because of it's popularity.
The littlest kid looks like he saw the whole thing. He'll be scarred for life.
My buddies wife worked as a character years ago as a college aged student. Said the characters were constantly groped, poked, and mistreated by ill behaved guests. Also said that in they had specific charts for how long they could remain in the costume depending on the temp. I.E. 95 degrees out, 15 minutes max. or something like that.
Thanks!
Hey, a high note!
Well, that's it for me folks! You've been great!
The Brady Center for Overhyped Sensationalism and Incessant Whining released a statement today, calling on Disney to implement "Tigger Guards" on the premesis.
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