Little People Grapple With 'M Word' on Wrestling Show

(June 3) -- Spike TV's newest reality show, "Half Pint Brawlers," is causing a big debate among America's little people.

The show follows a Chicago-based wrestling troupe called the Half Pint Brawlers through their on- and offstage antics.

The hook is that all six members are under 4 feet tall.

The show, which debuted June 2 and airs at 11 p.m., follows a recent trend of reality shows focused on little people -- the term preferred by those who suffer from a condition known as "dwarfism." Other shows include TLC's "Little People, Big World" and "Little Chocolatiers."

Those programs attempted to show little people interacting with mainstream society, but "Half Pint Brawlers" aims straight for Spike's testosterone-obsessed demographic by having wrestlers like "Puppet," "Turtle" and "Spyder" engage in wild behavior with groupies or "Jackass"-style stunts, like stapling each other's foreheads.

But what has America's little people buzzing aren't the scenes where the Brawlers smash thumbtacks into each other's faces, or heavy drinking or even the shameless flirting with groupies.

No, many little people, like Clinton Brown III, have a big problem with the Brawlers' mantra-like use of the word "midget," also known as the "M word."

At 3 feet 3 inches, Brown is a successful financial analyst who is also the general manager of the New York Towers, an all-dwarf basketball team. He would love for his team to be the subject of a reality show like the Brawlers' program and thinks the Towers would make for good material.

"We have a lot of personalities on the team," he said.

However, he doesn't want a show if it means he has to "go backward" and use an antiquated term like "midget."

"[The Brawlers] used the 'M word' in a bit of a crude way," Brown said after he watched the first episode. "But the term does not depict little people in a politically correct way or put us on the same playing field as others."

Plus, Brown suggests that, contrary to what the folks at Spike TV might tell their advertisers who covet the male demographic, the term "midget" isn't particularly edgy or extreme like other macho buzzwords.

"Their use of the word is almost corny," he said. "For the record, when little people hang around each other, they don't call each other midgets."

On the other hand, Brown has no problem with little people wrestling for a living.

"Now, as a wrestling show, it's a novelty. It might be a new form of wrestling," he said. "Wrestling is stupid; people breaking chairs over each other as entertainment. I don't see anything wrong with little people doing that.

"But it's more about being a leader and making a better place for the community. One hundred years ago, black people might have used the 'N word,' but that was because it was easier for them to go along than to step up and make a change."

Meanwhile, Gary Arnold, a spokesman for Little People of America, says that the organization doesn't have a problem with the show itself other than the dreaded "M word."

"For many years, LPA and other people of short stature have worked hard to raise awareness around language, incorporate more use of terms such as 'little people,' 'person with dwarfism' and 'person of short stature' while trying to eliminate use of the word 'midget,'" he said. "Our concern is that use of the word 'midget' on the Spike TV show will reinforce archaic, objectifying and stigmatizing stereotypes of people of short stature that were popular when people of short stature were put on display simply because of physical stature."

Head Half Pint Brawler Steve Richardson, whose stage name is "Puppet the Psycho Dwarf," doesn't see the big deal about a little person referring to himself or herself as a midget.

"I know there are people who don't like the term 'midget' and compare it to the 'N-word,' but it doesn't have the same meaning," he said. "We're doing little-people wrestling. Those other little people are trying to fit, but they're trying to fit in the lines. I'm not a little person. I'm a big personality."

To Richardson's way of thinking, he's never fit in with society's idea of normal -- and size has nothing to do with it.

Before starting the Half Pint Brawlers 12 years ago, Richardson, 41, was a Shakespearean-trained actor who appeared as a batboy in "The Babe," a Babe Ruth bio-pic starring John Goodman. He started the troupe, in part, to find a way to make money and also to express his larger than life personality.

"Before I did this, I had a stand-up act where I would make fun of big people, small people and sex positions," he said. "Everything I've done, I've brought into this character I do on the show."

Richardson, who minored in marketing, is showbiz-savvy enough to know that his profile rises every time the "M word" controversy arises, but he also says the use of the word is simply good business.

"No one would go to the show if I called it 'Little People Wrestling,'" he said.

Brown agrees with Richardson on this one, but suggests there might be an alternative term. "I wouldn't have a problem with dwarf wrestling," he said.