Canadian dwarf-tossing contest stirs controversy

A dwarf-tossing contest scheduled for Saturday at a Windsor, Ontario bar has generated heated controversy but local authorities say there is no law to prevent it.

Barry Maroon, manager of Leopard's Lounge and Broil, told the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. he saw no problem with the contest and even claimed he had been getting calls from little people anxious to attend.

He also said any human projectiles would wear protection and would not be in any danger.

But othersagreed with Jamie Danforth of Windsor -- the father in a family of four dwarfs -- who called it "ignorance at its highest level" in an email to the CBC.

"It is insane that in today's society we still have this going on," he said. "I don't need my daughters thinking this is the type of thing they have to be subjected to. We wouldn't throw the elderly or people in wheelchairs."

City councilor Ron Jones, contacted by a local resident trying to stop the event, told the Windsor Star, "there's nothing provincially and no bylaws here that would prevent this from going on."

He added that the dwarf to be tossed had his own agent.

"A person has a right to make a living," Jones said. "If this person being tossed was being tossed against his will, then it's a human rights issue and I'd be all over it."

The scheduled toss comes just weeks after actor Peter Dinklage, while accepting his Golden Globe for "A Game of Thrones," mentioned Martin Henderson, a fellow dwarf who was seriously injured last fall in England when he was picked up and dropped in an attack at a pub.

Windsor, in the Canadian province of Ontario, is just across the Detroit River from Detroit, Michigan.

Click here to read more from the CBC.