Pub Under Fire For Holding 'Midget-Tossing' Event

When Wolf of Wall Street debuted on the big screen, many people were shocked at one particular scene showing finance dudes getting all excited about throwing people with dwarfism across a room.

It was a pretty messed up thing because it highlighted that this has and still does happen in our world.

Paramount Pictures

What's even more shocking is that an Australian pub has decided to hold an event featuring exactly that.

The Great Northern Hotel in Newcastle, New South Wales, advertised an event on Facebook that was called 'The Wolf Of Watt Street' and promoted 'midget-tossing' as one of the key details about the party.

According to the event description, guests would be able to 'toss a midget' for free. If you hit the target then you would get a free drink at the bar. However, after putting the ad on social media, the condemnation came in swift and fast.

As a result, the organisers of the event have removed all reference of 'midget-tossing' down and have apologised for causing offence.

In a statement given to the ABC, management said: "We are extremely sorry for any offence or reference to our Wolf of Watt St event, with tossing of any people. We had no intention of doing so and this was a misguided comment, in reference to the film."

The statement added that they were simply going to have a doll instead of a real person.

Great Northern Hotel/Facebook

The pub has copped a battering on social media for implying that a real person with dwarfism was going to be used. It's also been criticised by advocacy groups.

Paralympian and former national secretary for the Short Statured People of Australia, Alicia Jenkins, said: "I was probably more than gobsmacked. It is horrifying, it is gut-wrenching, and I suppose my disappointment and my disgust is really hard to put into words.

"It still appears that dwarfism is the last disability that people seem to think it is OK to mock and it is just wrong.

"On a daily or weekly basis, I have people mocking me on the street, trying to take my photo, calling me midget and laughing and pointing at me."

No doubt the pub and others around Australia will take this as a sign that this type of thing isn't funny, nor should it be promoted or celebrated in any way.

Topics: News, Australia

Stewart Perrie

Stewart Perrie is a Trending Journalist at LADbible. His first job was as a newsreader and journalist at the award winning Sydney radio station, Macquarie Radio. He was solely responsible for the content broadcast on multiple stations across Australia when the MH17, Germanwings and AirAsia disasters unfolded. Stewart has covered the conflict in Syria for LADbible, interviewing a doctor on the front line, and has contributed to the hugely successful UOKM8 campaign.

@stewartperrie