A Newcastle pub has come under fire for an incredibly inappropriate ‘Wolf of Wall Street’ themed event.
The Great Northern Hotel scheduled the event on September 21 to play on the venue’s address, which is located off Newcastle’s Watt Street. The promotional video and poster for the event advertised the night to be just as wild as the DiCaprio film, including a pop-up casino.
But it was the wildly offensive “midget-tossing” event that found the hotel in hot water.
“If that won’t keep you on your toes the whole night, sign up for our FREE MIDGET-TOSSING!!” The event description said. “Hit the target and receive a FREE DRINK!!”
Following intense backlash from the public for the offensive content, the Great Northern Hotel has removed the video, ABC reports. However, the event is still live on Facebook and includes “midget-tossing” in the description.
The Facebook event is filled with people calling the pub out on the wildly offensive event. So, although it’s a terrible thing to see, at least we can appreciate that everyone in the Facebook community was quick to call out the derogatory language and totally fucked up event.
The term “midget” is considered derogatory and offensive, and according to Dwarfism Awareness Australia, the word should be avoided. But that doesn’t even begin to describe how inappropriate the tossing event is.
“It still appears that dwarfism is the last disability that people seem to think it is OK to mock and it is just wrong” Paralympian and former national secretary for Short Statured People of Australia, Alicia Jenkins said.
This is the second time the pub has done a Wolf of Watt St event, but it appears last year’s event wasn’t as controversial.
Although it is unclear whether people of short stature are actually going to be tossed at the event, but regardless, the concept is still offensive.
“We know that in the past unfortunately after events like this there have been people in the community that have been picked up and thrown in local bars and have been injured significantly” Sam Millard, the president of Short Statured People of Australia said. “So these kinds of things might sound like a joke but they do have real world consequences.”
The event has also been condemned by the NSW Minister for Disability Services Gareth Ward, who has a disability of his own.
The Great Northern Hotel have removed the promotional video, but have not commented on or cancelled the event, which still promotes “midget tossing.” The event is being promoted by Newcastle Live, where the promotional content is still active at the time of posting this article.
It is important to educate yourself on inclusive, respectful language. Dwarfism affects approximately one in 25,000 Australians.
“Acceptable words to use are dwarf, little person, person with dwarfism, short stature. But most would like to be called by their name rather than their condition,” Dwarfism Awareness Australia explains.
As a general rule, if you’re unsure if the language you’re using is offensive, just use peoples names. Being inclusive and respectful doesn’t need to be difficult.
Events like the “Wolf of Watt Street” are offensive, and frankly just shit. If you can’t have a fun night out without being a dick to somebody else, you mustn’t be a very fun person.
This isn’t it. Don’t be that guy. If you see hate-speech like this in your local or online community, call it out. Let’s be better than this.
