Idiot teenager causes CM Tigger suspension

[Mackey Mouse]

I think I just finished reading that the original Tigger accused of groping was accused again for groping fellow employees and was fired... now I have to go look and see if that is exactly what I read....

 

[BensMom]

They are called "Character Attendants." My neighbor was a CA, and she said that was her job...if someone lingered too long, which happens, the CA would very nicely ask the family to move along. The castmembers who are in costume, especially the ones who wear "fur," are used to having their noses and ears pulled, etc. They are trained to deal with being pulled and tugged on occasion. It is extremely hard to see out of the faces of these costumes. In my opinion, it appears that the Tiger CM may have have had trouble seeing. His hand wasn't even clenched in a fist. The father and son sounded totally ignorant on the news. The father was ranting, "I want an apology from Tigga"! (Bostonian for Tigger) The son will probably get harrassed upon his return to school.

 

[orljustin]

Thank you for letting me know I must have missed that response, silly me.......maybe they should rethink that especially with the popular characters..Tigger is in a big cumbersome costume and is popular, kids think he can bounce, right? I do hope someone else comes forward and saw what was going on behind Tigger's back, if anything.....

Disney needs to hire some more handlers to avoid these kinds of things....Tigger is definitely at a disadvantage in that costume to be able to whip his head around to see what is going on behind him...

Well, it's not like this was a four year old who bounced into Tigger...

All costumes have vision problems. This is not something isolated to Tigger.

 

[my4kids]

They are called "Character Attendants." My neighbor was a CA, and she said that was her job...if someone lingered too long, which happens, the CA would very nicely ask the family to move along. The castmembers who are in costume, especially the ones who wear "fur," are used to having their noses and ears pulled, etc. They are trained to deal with being pulled and tugged on occasion. It is extremely hard to see out of the faces of these costumes. In my opinion, it appears that the Tiger CM may have have had trouble seeing. His hand wasn't even clenched in a fist. The father and son sounded totally ignorant on the news. The father was ranting, "I want an apology from Tigga"! (Bostonian for Tigger) The son will probably get harrassed upon his return to school.

I thought it was more of a LonGisland "Tigga"

 

[PoohnPglet]

As posted earlier, handlers are assigned to a group. They do not hover about one character waiting for problems.

Actually, handlers (again, we prefer greeter or attendant) usually are assigned to one character at a time. Unless the characters can stand together. ie Lilo and Stitch or Chip and Dale. Although, after saying that, I must admit that with the workforce shortage, they may make exceptions to that as needed.

The greeter may have been right there, yet just not within shot of the camera. (We try very hard not to be in the shot) or having to deal with something in the line, (placeholders/cutters or even someone just asking where they could view the parade etc...) And part of our job is to try to insure the safety of our character as well as the guests. Sometimes, a situation happens too fast. Characters get hit/kicked ALL the time. I always tell mine that although I may not be able to stop the first one, I will work like heck to stop the second one.

 

[DaGrumpy]

.........................

 

[Charade]

I'm still stuck on the fact that there was a low fence behind them and it looked like the teen was going to fall over the fence (regardless of what he did or didn't do to the back of Tigger's costume) and Tigger tried to catch him. I really would like to see the entire video, unedited.

 

[claudia]

The question to ask is "why"? Everything is going along just fine, the teen steps into the video footage, puts his arm around Tigger, and then the problem happens. Tigger puts his arm out as to welcome this young man, the young man then puts his arm behind Tigger and then it begins....something happened. It is impossible to determine what happened. The teen responds when asked that he just "put his arm around him, like a slight hug". It appears that Tigger tried to move away and you can see that he can't...almost as if he was being held....which it looks like he was trying to turn and remove the teens arm, which if this teen was not holding on, would have been able to move over easily. The father says his initial reaction was to reprimand his son....
It all goes back to "why"...and I don't believe for one second that "Tigger" just decided to go postal.

 

[Charade]

and I don't believe for one second that "Tigger" just decided to go postal.

I agree. I wonder what the ratio of teens "looking for trouble" vs. fluffy costumed characters going "postal" is?

 

[4cruisin]

The father and son sounded totally ignorant on the news. The father was ranting, "I want an apology from Tigga"! (Bostonian for Tigger)

Hey, I resent that remark. I'm from Boston. His name is pronounced Tigga!!!!!

 

[KristiKelly]

It doesn't look like Tigger 'punched' the kid in the face deliberately, it looks as if he was trying to push the kid away because obviously the kid is doing something at the back of the costume as his hand is stuck when Tigger spins around.
The look on the kid's face when he comes up to Tigger is IMHO a smart alec "hey look what I can do" look and Tigger reacted---in not the right way but obviously was trying to stop the kid from doing something he shouldn't have been doing!

I agree. DH & I watched it last night and we both thought the kid was acting like a little smart "butt" .

I have also heard that those costumes are hard to see in. Could be that "Tigger" just couldn't see him and when he swung around he hit him. Didn't look to me like he just hauled back & punched him.

The kid definitely had a smart alec look on his face, what if the kid was trying to flip the mask off of his head (I don't know how easy that would be). BUT think of the children standing around seeing this.

I just don't think an adult whose job is to be with children all day would intentionally punch a kid. The kid looked up to no good, IMO. But I'm sure he would never admit to it. I smell a law suit.

 

[orljustin]

Hey, I resent that remark. I'm from Boston. His name is pronounced Tigga!!!!!

... and the kid is a chowda-head.

 

[Mackey Mouse]

After the Tigga being the Boston way of saying it remark .. I wondered where they were from, looked it up, seems it says New Hampsha....

I am from Bahsten too....I thought Tigga was the way to say it..

 

[Disney_Mama]

When I watched the video...just before Tigger "hits" the young man he reaches for his head as if he is making sure it has not come undone. Very sad in my opinion. Last year I had one of the characters grab my breast while getting ready for a photo. I knew that it was completely by mistake and just laughed it off. I don't think the character had any idea. Just my two cents worth.

 

[emememem]

Heard on the local news that Tigger stated the kid was playing with the back of the costume and he was unable to breathe!

 

[Ms Lion Queen]

I also think something was happening to Tigger and the family is looking to make big$$$$ from Disney. I feel sorry for whoever was playing Tigger. Those CMs put up with a lot.

If that kid were mine, he would be apologizing to Tigger for his behavior and he would never be in a park or anywhere else dressed like that.

 

[HappyLawyer]

I agree, i think it is some type of scam or something, hopefully some whitnesses will show up on the behalf of the cm and tell what they saw

 

[Gary M]

Does anyone know if security cameras may have caught the situation from another angle. I guess I'm wondering if WDW has that many cameras checking the grounds and is the tape saved for very long, if so.

 

[LBelle]

God...this whole thing just makes me

These 2 seem like a pair of losers and I wish Disney would just show them the door!!!

 

[orljustin]

Local morning show did a great bit this morning I am trying to get a hold of.

"It's a small world after all, keep your bratty kids under control".