Well...A Tigger's gotta do what Tigger's do best!
Tigger was set-up.
This family wants $$$$!
Hard to tell what's going on between photos 1 and 2 from the link.
Photo one looks like the teenage has his wrist between the Tigger actor's right bicep and his ribs, second photo looks like the teen is pulling something from behind Tigger, the rest of the photos appear to show Tigger only having a degree of freedom with his left arm crossing over his body to distract the teen whom he might not be able to see from within the outfit.
Sure looks like the kid (hardly)was screwing with tigger, and probably set up by dad. The family (who look retarded) seem to know it about to happen.
Why is the kid wearing gloves like a streetfighter?
That kid's too big to be messing with a cartoon character.
And where's the handler? The person in the costume can't see anything that's going on around him. And the handler is supposed to make sure nobody grabs the costume because it can easily choke the character or knock them off balance.
It certainly doesn't look from the pictures like the character really punched him, it looks like the character tried to shove him away. Note the character can't move, there's a family with young children in front of him, a fence behind him, and a mother to the other side. If the kid pushes at all, tigger is going to fall over the mother and cause real damage.
I bet tigger told the kid to let go of him several times, and when the kid wouldn't let go, he pushed him to get him off of him.
"A tigger is a tigger".
On the advice of his lawyer, no doubt.
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.
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.
"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!"
The Brady Center for Overhyped Sensationalism and Incessant Whining released a statement today, calling on Disney to implement "Tigger Guards" on the premesis.
When the kid starts pulling down, the costume's chin looks like it snaps back and Tigger's hands go right to his head/neck as though something was wrong. Since the person wearing the costume sees out of the costume's eyes, he is essentially blinded. He turns to his right, and with his hands already up, contacts the kid in the chops. I doubt Tigger even saw the kid as he turned because his costume isn't "right" again until picture 8 or 9. The hit wasn't hard because the kid was already off balance and didn't fall over.
IMHO, the kid and his father should be banned from the park, and Tig deserves an apology.