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Terry Hooper-Scharf

Friday 28 November 2014

Oh Yeah. Sure. Watch Out Cosplay Storm Troopers -or any cosplayer!

Boy left traumatised after street performer points a gun at his head in Birmingham

Boy left traumatised after street performer points a gun at his head
Connor burst into tears after the performer pointed a gun at his head (Picture: CATERS)
A young boy was left traumatised recently after an innocent encounter with a street performer.

Eight-year-old Connor May was shopping in Birmingham with his grandmother on Saturday afternoon when he spotted a gold painted ‘human statue’ interacting with the Christmas shoppers.

After the schoolboy gave the man a pound, the performer handcuffed the lad to his belt and pointed a fake gun at his head so his gran could take a picture.

However as soon as Connor was released he burst into tears, and now says he gets ‘flashbacks’ to that moment.


Connors mum Laura, 31, said she was ‘absolutely horrified when I heard what had happened’.

‘I looked at the photo my mum took and I could see that Connor seemed very uncomfortable with what was happening to him,’ she added.
Connor May, 8, with his mum Laura May, from Malvern, Worcestershire. While visiting the Birmingham German Market with his grandmother Helen May, Connor posed with a street performer there, only to have the performer hold a replica gun to his head for the photo. November 26 2014. See News Team story NTIGUN; A grandma was left furious after a golden cowboy mime artist at Birmingham's German Market handcuffed her young grandson ñ and pressed a pistol to his forehead. Helen Mayís picture shows uncomfortable eight-year-old Connor May harnessed to the human statueís belt, with the golden gun pointing at his temple. Throughout the Birmingham city centre ìactî grandmother Helen May feared the youngster, who suffers from attention deficit disorder ADHD, would suffer a panic attack. Street wardens who patrol the popular Christmas market later pledged to ìhave a quiet wordî with the wild, Wild West character.
Connor’s mum, Laura, says he has experienced ‘flash backs’ since the incident NTI / SWNS)
Grandmother Helen claims she didn’t realise Connor had been handcuffed, and said the crowd went silent as Connor, who suffers from ADHD, had the gun pointed at his head.

The family now think it is dangerous for street performers to carry toy guns, saying: ‘Who knows who this man could be, he’s just allowed to stand there with an imitation gun and no-one cares because he’s painted gold.’

Birmingham City Council said there is no legislation restricting ‘human statues’, however they said they will be speaking to the performer in question ‘about his conduct’.

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Newspapers love this sort of attention seeking because it fills pages. Yeah, make sure to throw in "suffers from ADHD"  because then he's a "vulnerable child" and people will go "ahh. Poor thing. And he's got THAT!" (they have no idea what ADHD is...some probably thought it was a type of plasma screen TV.

 This has ramifications for cosplaying though. 

I could upload 50 photos of con attendees on their knees, hands behind head as Star Wars troopers point guns at them. 

 Traumatised AFTER? Sue. 

This kid is NOT traumatised -look at his face- and also look at the man's gun hand -no finger in trigger guard and holding the handle at the end so it looks totally jokey. 

I'm guessing with Christmas looming Mum needs money to go to Iceland (the food chain in case you have no idea)?
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7 comments:

  1. Stransky29 November 2014 at 04:28

    Hmmm. I think the handcuffing him to his belt was the weird part. Pointing the gun at the childs head was not a smart move - but if that was part of the 'show', and it was understood - OK. Yes, this might be the thin end of the wedge for regulating cos-play and street performers - licenses will have to be bought, rules and regulations agreed to...yadayada yada. The usual rigamarole... it'll be a nice little earner for the councils who have touristy areas. Anyway - nice title to the blog ! Wow ! That's a BIG IRON WARRIOR ! I wonder who drew it ... ? Thanks once again for putting something of mine up - it reminds me I'm still worth spit. Sometimes I do wonder.....
    I'm still doing a few things - hopefully have a letter off to you early December.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Terry Hooper-Scharf29 November 2014 at 05:16

    Next piece of news on posting might not be so fun.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Stransky29 November 2014 at 07:33

    Then I don' t want to read it. Let's see.... I've got deportation...but can't travel because of suicidal tendencies... drugs that make me lose days - but I have to take because my wife is 'responsible for me in this matter'...a mother in law with cancer - and god knows what. Really.. Bah, Humbug. It's 12:30ish night time here I'm fed up and sick. I've done some Dene Vernon pages for the hell of it. Bad news I do not need. I'm going home

    ReplyDelete
  4. Terry Hooper-Scharf29 November 2014 at 09:20

    Deportation?? SERIOUSLY??? Don't worry -you'll not be suicidal over the news. Me on the other hand......Pity you don't have email but the important thing is to not let any bastards grind you down!

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  5. Stransky29 November 2014 at 22:16

    Yep. I am not welcome here. I'll tell you in the letter - it's quite a funny story.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Terry Hooper-Scharf30 November 2014 at 03:29

    And yet they will NOT deport me from this country.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Terry Hooper-Scharf30 November 2014 at 03:45

    And yet you still (?) like the country? For business and so on I'd guess there are a lot of people in the UK who would want to learn Japanese. Just saying its an option eventually. Just don't let them grind you down because that is what they basically want.

    ReplyDelete

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