Tigger in Trouble ... Again!

It’s not so wonderful to be a Tigger this weekend as the famous costume character was suspected of striking a teenager in the Magic Kingdom at the Walt Disney World resort in Orlando, Florida.

First read the article then watch the video of Tigger’s interaction with the teenager.

What do I think? Personally I think there’s nothing to the accusation. Look at the kid. There’s not a scratch on him, not even a bruise on his cheek where Tigger supposedly ‘hit’ him. The father who sounds like a typical New Yorker or somewhere from the northeast (if that tells you anything) is rather aggressive in describing the situation. And notice how defensive the teenager gets when he’s interrogated by the news reporter questioning him whether he provoked the incident. He looks as though he knows he’ll be in deep trouble if he is caught making all this up.

It doesn’t look like Tigger punched him at all. The way I look at it the man in the Tigger costume was being crowded by these kids with his back to the fence and lost his footing. Rather then potentially fall backward (either injuring himself or losing Tigger’s head and horrifying little children waiting in line to pose for pictures with him) he tried to grab the teenager’s arm.

Some else on a Disney message board has suggested that the teenager provoked the incident If you watch the video the teenager’s left hand is behind Tigger and it appears as though he is trying to do something with his left hand behind Tigger’s back (maybe trying to be a smart ass and get his hand under the costume or something to that effect). The person in the costume naturally reacted to being violated like that.

In either case it doesn’t look like the teenager was hit that hard. It looks more like a slap then anything else. This is likely another situation of a family overreacting and trying to cash in. I swear to God you’ll probably see this kid on some afternoon trash talk show in the near future telling people he can’t sleep anymore and needs therapy because every time he closes his eyes he imagines Tigger is punching him. If this kid thinks he got it rough on vacation, just wait until he gets back home. How would you like to be this kid and going to school knowing full well that everyone knows you were beaten up at Walt Disney World by a costume character? Here come the swirlies!

My only hope is that this won’t produce a chain reaction among guests who want to follow the same trend this family has set and try to cash in by accusing costume characters at the theme parks of fondling them or assaulting them in any way.

This is the second time in two years that a cast member dressed as Tigger has been in hot water. In 2004 Tigger was accused of touching a thirteen year old girl's breast while she posed for a picture with him. The man in the costume was later found not guilty by a jury of his peers.