Tigger hits kid?

Tigger hits kid?

http://www.local6.com/news/10685989/detail.html (With Video)

Looks like someone is making a mountain out of an ant hill.......looks like he was losing his balance backwards, and its hardly a "hard hit"

ORLANDO, Fla. -- Home video of a costumed Tigger character apparently punching a boy in the face and knocking him back at a Walt Disney World theme park has prompted an Orange County Sheriff's investigation into the incident and led to the suspension of the cast member, according to a Local 6 News report.

The Monaco family of New Hampshire said they were visiting a Disney theme park and posing for a photo with Tigger when the character landed a hard punch.

"You don't come here for this," father Jerry 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," Monaco Sr. 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."

Monaco said he did not provoke the attack and just had his arm around the costumed character when the incident happened.

"No provoking at all," Monaco said. "It was just out of the blue."

Disney officials called the family, 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.






"The general manager apologized to me," Monaco Sr. 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."

"It is clear the two made physical contact," Local 6's Samantha Knapp said. "An investigation into who did what is under way."

Disney as well as the Orange County Sheriff's Office launched investigations into the incident Saturday.

The cast member, Michael J. Fedelem, was suspended by Disney pending the investigation, according to an AP report.

Watch Local 6 News for more on this story.

heh no kidding...

"This writer spoke with Deputy Finlay (361) who responded to the incident earlier in the day she advised the tigger performer advised he had lost sight of his spotter during the photo shoot. He felt someone come up on his right side. The person then put their arm over Tiggers shoulder pulling his costume back and knocking him off balance. The head portion of the costume pulled back making it hard for him to breath so he left the area to get the costume adjusted"