What is with the sudden barrage of fictitious character-on-man assaults in the media?
Reuters Life! reported Saturday that a Chewbacca impersonator was arrested that day for allegedly head-butting a Hollywood tour guide who warned him to stop harassing a pair of Japanese tourists.
This story broke less than a month after footage of Tigger was accused of punching a teenage boy at Disney World. To make the Chewbacca story even more fantastical, Superman and other cartoon characters were noted as witnesses to the alleged assault that was preceded by the hairy giant saying, “Nobody tells this Wookie what to do.”
I just want to know what kind of world we live in that even fictional characters are a threat to human safety and Chewbacca is held in custody under $20,000.
The only thing that would make these events more ridiculous would be if the newspapers reported that Bugs Bunny and Mickey Mouse had come to blows in Downtown Disney to settle a grudge match over who is the most famous cartoon character. That is one match I would like to see.
What happened to the happy-go-lucky mascots of days gone by? There used to be a time when parents didn’t have to worry that their kid would get a concussion while posing with Goofy or Snoopy. I understand that people in character costumes get a lot of crap from kids and adults, but that’s no excuse for assault.
One final thing, those tourists should know never to get too close to a Chewbacca impersonator. As Han Solo said in Episode IV: “It’s not wise to upset a Wookie.”
Allison Baldwin is a sophomore journalism major and the city editor for the Daily Forty-Niner.
