Website of the YearA NSW pub has apologised for promoting a "midget tossing" game during an upcoming Wolf of Wall Street-themed event.
Management for the Great Northern Hotel in Newcastle said the plan had been to throw a doll at a target, not a real person, the ABC reported.
The pub sparked backlash after it released a video and poster spruiking a pop-up casino on September 21, referencing a scene in the 2013 film in which a group of traders throw people of short stature towards a bullseye.
"If that won't keep you on your toes the whole night, sign up for our FREE MIDGET-TOSSING!!" the poster said. "Hit the target and receive a FREE DRINK!!"
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Advertise with NZME.In a statement to the broadcaster, the hotel apologised for the promotion and "any comments and sadness this has bought to the community".
"We are extremely sorry for any offence or reference to our Wolf of Watt Street event, with tossing of any people," the statement said. "We had no intention of doing so and this was a misguided comment, in reference to the film."
Reached for comment on Monday, a hotel spokeswoman said, "We sincerely apologise but don't wish to make further comment."
The promotion was met with outrage from Dwarfism Awareness Australia, which told the ABC people should avoid using the word "midget" at all costs.
"It is a derogatory slang word that is pretty much on par (with) calling someone the 'N-word'," the group said.
Paralympian Alicia Jenkins, the former national secretary for Short Statured People of Australia, said the promotion left her "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," she told the ABC.
"It still appears that dwarfism is the last disability that people seem to think it is OK to mock and it is just wrong."
