Tigger Vs. Teen
The Monaco family was posing with Tigger while Jerry filmed them with his video camera. Suddenly, Jerry's teenaged son, Jerry Jr., was "smack[ed] in the face" by Tigger, as "Early Show" anchor Hannah Storm characterized it. Jerry Sr. called the incident a "sucker punch." Jerry Jr., who later "woke up with neck pain," was eventually taken to the hospital for treatment. As of this morning, Jerry Jr. says, "most of the pain is gone 'cause I have medicine."
Here at Public Eye, we've long been opposed to people dressed as fictional characters punching teenagers in the face. But we urge you to watch the video of the incident and decide for yourself what, exactly, Tigger did – the "Early Show" helpfully plays the video over and over during the course of the interview.
We can sort of understand why the "Early Show" had the Monacos on – video footage like this is hard to resist, and the folks at the "Early Show" have a couple hours to fill in the morning. But we'd like to think that we would have brought somewhat more skepticism to the table than Storm, who did not challenge the family's characterization of the incident.
To her credit, Storm did ask, at the end of the interview, what the family was hoping to get from Disney. And while the Monaco's lawyer said only that they want an apology, it's safe to assume that the family is open to compensation. As for the interview, it took place because both sides got something out of it – the "Early Show" was able to run some moderately compelling video, and the Monacos got a platform that allowed them to put pressure on Disney. Everybody, it seems, was a winner. Well, except maybe Tigger. And Disney. And us.