Dwarf tossing incident highlighted by Peter Dinklage at the Golden Globes
Actor Peter Dinklage poses in the press room with his award for “Game of Thrones” at the Golden Globes. During his acceptance speech, Dinklage raised awareness about a dwarf tossing incident that left a fellow actor paralyzed.
Dwarf tossing has received worldwide attention since Peter Dinklage drew attention to the abusive practice in his Golden Globes acceptance speech.
Dinklage, who won a Golden Globe for his role in "Game of Thrones" on Sunday, created a Twitter frenzy when he mentioned fellow dwarf and 37-year-old actor Martin Henderson while accepting his award, according to NBC News.
"Google him," Dinklage said, rather than elaborate.
Henderson, who is 4 feet 6 inches, was celebrating his birthday at White Horse pub in Somerset, England, when the incident occurred. He was smoking a cigarette outside the pub when a drunken stranger, 5 feet 8 inches tall, allegedly picked him up and threw him. He landed on his back on the pavement, and suffered partial paralysis as a result.
Henderson told several news sources that he believes his attacker was influenced by Mike Tindall, a former England Rugby captain who attended a dwarf-throwing contest at a New Zealand bar in September 2011.
According to The Guardian, Tindall and his teammates were seen partying at a Queenstown bar called Altitude, which was hosting a "Mad Midget Weekend." In November, Tindall was fined £25,000 (almost $32,000) by the Rugby Football Union for his behavior, and was removed from its elite squad, The Guardian reported.
"With the rugby one, the dwarf throwing… the guy might have thought, let's try it out on him," Henderson told the BBC.
Dwarf tossing is a controversial bar activity in which dwarfs wearing padded or Velcro suits are thrown onto mattresses or at Velcro-covered walls. It has been banned in several countries.
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Henderson, an actor, worries he will no longer be able to work because of his injuries.
"I keep getting numbness in my left leg and I just keep falling over and I have broken my left wrist," Henderson told the BBC. "I never heard of anyone being picked on like this. I feel very, very upset about it. It is frightening. I think we're an easy target."
Both Dinklage and Henderson suffer from achondroplasia, which causes dwarfism.