I'm sure we all know who Jerry Monaco is, if by chance you don't he is the dad of the boy who was involved in the now infamous "Tigger Incident"
I was one of the people who wrote to him after the incident happened. I did not know him before. I was and still am on Tiggers side BUT I did not send him hate mail as so many people have done. I didnt write him love mail either but mostly expressed my opinion. I signed my name to the letter and since I am not hiding he was very easily able to track down my phone number. I didnt ask him how he got it but I assume the internet. When he first told me who he was I braced myself as I expected him to get nasty. To my surprise he did not. He told me of his respect for me because I had signed my letter. He has recieved hundreds of very nasty letters and phone messages from people who we not brave enough to sign their names. He told me the most horrific part of this is how people have attacked his children, not just Jerry Jr but the others as well. He read somewhere that someone said Tigger should have attacked and ripped apart his other children as well.
We spoke for over an hour on his dime, He was unable to sway me to his side but he calmly debated the entire issue with me. I was greatful for the oportunity to debate with him. How often have you seen someone on TV and wanted to tell them what you thought?...I have actually gotten to do that.
In the end he is a father who loves his children, he tells me (Im paraphrasing)
- He truly believes Tigger attacked his son
-The handler did approach him following the incident and apologise, saying that He (Tigger) was not feeling well
-He realizes he came off badly on the news but feels he was only protecting his child. He went to the news because the wouldnt take a police report. Once he appeared on TV, they were willing to take a report.
He told me all he really wants is an apology from MF ( man in the costume)
I asked if that happens what will he do, he said it would all be over.
Then I asked what if it doesnt, he then said he would have to explore his options. No lawsuit has been filed.
He told me that it has been a nightmare and he never imagined how cruel the world would be, especially to his children. His son is being harrassed.
He told me that his son really is a good kid, never been in trouble, never been in a fight, gets good grades in school etc. He feels badly about the way people are making fun of the gloves etc We talked about how this was a good lesson about how people percieve us based on how we dress.
I thinks its awful people have been sending hate mail, saying horrible things and then not being brave enough to sign their names. Thats no better if not worse than the way he behaved on the news. If you have an opinion send mail, not hate mail.
I told him that I felt a lot of the anger from the world is based on his appearance on TV, he was spewing venom and did not appear to be a resonable man. I think the public in general based their opinon on that. I know I did. I reviewed the incident tape and the one with him on it and I felt he was over reacting. Which is why I wrote to him in the first place.
We debated our two views of the tape, I saw Tigger attempt to pull the boys arm off his back, resulting in an arm lock, he then had to turn and when doing do accidentally hit him with his "paws"
He saw Tigger get his son in a martial art arm lock and then turn and punch him. His response to the thought that tigger might now have known the boy was there....."of course he knew he was there, he had his arm around him."
He also feels tha Tigger admitted to it because he said it was in self defense, I argued that he said he turned in self defense, not that he "punched" him in self defense.
All in all I was glad to have the opportunity to debate this with him, the one question I realized I didnt ask after I hung up and was kicking my self for...
"If Tigger really did punch his son....why did he do it?" I think thats what a lot of us struggle with...no regular person hits someone for no reason.
He was nothing but polite to me.
He wants us to remember that we are not really talking about Tigger but a 31 yr old man that was inside this costume
I have been saying all along (and in my letter) lets give the boy the benefit of the doubt and maybe he accidenatlly pulled the costume resulting in the reaction from Tigger. I still think it was an accident. I don't believe it was Tiggers intention to hurt the boy. Jerry Monaco thinks differently
FYI
Becky
