Before you start accusing basketball great (and Fort Lauderdale retiree) Scottie Pippen of being an abuser of midgets, you should hear him out. What? You never suspected him of beating midgets? Well, he did, but he was performing in a film he thought would be called A Tribute to Big Red. It was renamed Midgets vs. Mascots, and here is the trailer:
Pippen issued a statement today about a video -- which alas, we couldn't find -- in which he is assaulted by a group of extremely aggressive midgets. That statement after the jump.
That full statement is here, but let's take it piece by piece.
"Given the recent controversy surrounding Gary Coleman, the fact that I've been repeatedly asked questions about my small part in the movie 'Midgets vs. Mascots,' and a related video posted online which shows me being assaulted by a group of Little People, I want to clear up any misunderstandings."An excellent start! The diminutive Coleman, of course, was hospitalized this week after suffering a seizure. Seems at the moment, he's less worried about Pippen than he is about his health -- and about his purportedly appearing in full frontal nudity in the film. (Yeah, I know. As if we needed another reason not to watch this movie.)
Back to Pip's statement about the film. He describes a scene he taped in 2008:
My role was scripted, and the first two scenes went off without any problems. During the third scene, I was told that four Little People, along with actor Gary Coleman, were going to become angry with something I said and storm off as the scene ends. Instead, they basically attacked me, with Gary Coleman apparently climbing on a chair behind me to hit me over the head with a phone (twice).Disgraceful! This doesn't seem like a very serious attempt at cinema! Mind you, Pippen stands six-foot-eight. While Coleman and the midgets are, like, just eight. But they can swarm, and the Chicago Bulls great had to defend himself, right?
"A short fight ensued before I heard the film's director yell 'cut.' As I recall, some of the Little People were laughing as the director explained that the scene was 'sort of like an episode of the TV show Punk'd.' At that point, I left quickly without a clear understanding of what was going on."Yep, I think that was the point, Scottie. You got Punk'd.
"As for the Little Person who claims he was injured in the attack, I really don't think I caused the injury or can be held to blame. To the best of my knowledge, there is no action being taken against me, nor am I pursuing any action. For the record, I have never seen the movie and, in hindsight, wish I'd not been involved with it. I simply wanted to make clear my role and position as I understand the movie is coming out soon. I will not be answering any further questions regarding the film."
