No small controversy: 'Dwarf-tossing' returns to Windsor ... thanks to the Wolf of Wall Street
POSTMEDIA NETWORK
First posted: Friday, January 22, 2016 03:03 PM EST | Updated: Friday, January 22, 2016 05:01 PM EST
It's been years since anyone's tossed a dwarf in Windsor, Ontario. That's about to change.
Sam Katzman of Katzman Enterprises said the controversial sport of hurling little people headlong through beer rooms will be brought back by popular demand to Leopards Lounge in Windsor on Jan. 30.
"What I do know is that a lot of people like it, and the performer himself likes it," Katzman told Postmedia on Wednesday. "We've been getting 15 to 20 phone calls a day since we put up the sign at Leopards.
Apparently it's a thing again, thanks to a scene in the Wolf of Wall Steet, starring Leo DiCaprio.
"People saw the movie, and they thought it was a neat thing," he said. "It's also a competition. Anything that's competitive, people are into."
The identity of the man-dart to be flung is unknown, but Katzman has said this wouldn't be his first time in the air (he's performed in Detroit), and that he's a bit of a celebrity, having appeared in music videos and on stage with Motley Crue.
"He does not feel this is demeaning at all. People treat him with respect. It's a job. He receives a paycheque ... He does what he does to make a living. It's not unsafe."
Allan Redford, president of Little People of Canada, is not amused.
"It's saying it's OK to put your hands on a little person, to grab them and throw them," Redford said. "It's a violent, physical act."
When the Windsor lounge held dwarf tossing in 2003, the event drew so much outrage an area MPP brought forward a bill to ban it. The bill failed.
Katzman knows the sport has its critics, but doesn't seem to care.
"You just can't please everybody."
No small controversy: 'Dwarf-tossing' returns to Windsor ... thanks to the Wolf
POSTMEDIA NETWORK
First posted: Friday, January 22, 2016 03:03 PM EST | Updated: Friday, January 22, 2016 05:01 PM EST
It's been years since anyone's tossed a dwarf in Windsor, Ontario. That's about to change.
Sam Katzman of Katzman Enterprises said the controversial sport of hurling little people headlong through beer rooms will be brought back by popular demand to Leopards Lounge in Windsor on Jan. 30.
"What I do know is that a lot of people like it, and the performer himself likes it," Katzman told Postmedia on Wednesday. "We've been getting 15 to 20 phone calls a day since we put up the sign at Leopards.
Apparently it's a thing again, thanks to a scene in the Wolf of Wall Steet, starring Leo DiCaprio.
"People saw the movie, and they thought it was a neat thing," he said. "It's also a competition. Anything that's competitive, people are into."
The identity of the man-dart to be flung is unknown, but Katzman has said this wouldn't be his first time in the air (he's performed in Detroit), and that he's a bit of a celebrity, having appeared in music videos and on stage with Motley Crue.
"He does not feel this is demeaning at all. People treat him with respect. It's a job. He receives a paycheque ... He does what he does to make a living. It's not unsafe."
Allan Redford, president of Little People of Canada, is not amused.
"It's saying it's OK to put your hands on a little person, to grab them and throw them," Redford said. "It's a violent, physical act."
When the Windsor lounge held dwarf tossing in 2003, the event drew so much outrage an area MPP brought forward a bill to ban it. The bill failed.
Katzman knows the sport has its critics, but doesn't seem to care.
"You just can't please everybody."
No small controversy: 'Dwarf-tossing' returns to Windsor ... thanks to the Wolf