Benidorm bar that lets stag parties hire a dwarf probed for ‘hate crimes’

Benidorm bar that hires out a dwarf for stag and hen parties to handcuff to groom or bride-to-be is probed for ‘hate crimes’

  • Chaplins bar near the resort’s Levante Beach has drawn complaints for service
  • State prosecutors have been asked to investigate the bar for ‘hate crimes’ 
  • The bar is reportedly one of many in Benidorm offering to rent out dwarves 

A Benidorm bar popular with British holidaymakers is facing an investigation after renting out dwarves to stag parties.

State prosecutors in Alicante have been asked to probe Chaplins bar near the resort’s Levante Beach following claims it may have committed a hate crime.

The investigation was launched following a complaint from Cermi, an umbrella organisation representing people with disabilities in Spain, about a street sign outside the nightspot which read ‘Wanna rent a midget?’.

Chaplin’s Disco Pub, which is the focus of the complaint, has traditionally attracted a mainly British clientele with acts including a ‘midget stripper show’.

Cermi, an umbrella organisation representing people with disabilities in Spain, complained about the practice of renting out dwarves

It boasts on social media it shows ‘the best range of naughty cabaret Benidorm has to offer’ and posts footage of a man with dwarfism in a G-string on a Segway, although the video was published last year.

In a message published on social media at the height of last year’s summer season, the nightspot said: ‘Our midget stripper show is on at 1am every night at Chaplins bar.

‘Also available to hire for your stag/hen do’s. Want to handcuff your stag to a midget? You can at Chaplins.’

State prosecutors are understood to have been asked to take action by Cermi last week.

A spokesman for the organisation told Spanish newspaper El Pais: ‘Mockery and taunting has direct effects on the group that suffers this type of disability and increases the stigma for people of short stature, who are treated as clowns.’

Felipe Orviz, a legal advisor for the northern Spain-based ALPE Achondroplasia Foundation which supports families and children with a form of short-limbed dwarfism called achondroplasia, said he believed the nightspot was in breach of international human rights treaty The Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities.

A sign outside Chaplins bar near the resort's Levante Beach reads 'Wanna rent a midget?'

A sign outside Chaplins bar near the resort’s Levante Beach reads ‘Wanna rent a midget?’

Pictures show stag dos and hen parties posing with the dwarves dressed in an array of fancy dress

Pictures show stag dos and hen parties posing with the dwarves dressed in an array of fancy dress

He is raising the issue with the local and regional councils, describing the practice of hiring out people with dwarfism as ‘denigrating’ and likening it to the rental of Down syndrome sufferers.

No-one could be reached for comment early this morning at Chaplin’s, which is not the only venue offering British holidaymakers entertainment involving people with dwarfism.

Local firm Fk It, which runs Miller’s Bar, also offers dwarf hire online with an ad targeting British hen and stag parties which says: ‘They just love this. Let us handcuff your stag, hen to a mini Superman, policeman or other hero or little villain.

‘We are based in Benidorm and are the only provider of little guys in Benidorm.

‘Our little guys speak perfect English and are ready to rock your stag or hen party. Our little guys are also professional actors, most appear regularly on TV and in feature movies such as Star Wars.’

It also offers punters the choice of ‘little guys’ in costumes including ‘tranny, Superman, police and leprechaun.’

Chaplin's Disco Pub, which is the focus of the complaint, has traditionally attracted a mainly British clientele with acts including a 'midget stripper show'

Chaplin’s Disco Pub, which is the focus of the complaint, has traditionally attracted a mainly British clientele with acts including a ‘midget stripper show’

Fk It was highlighted in a Sunday UK tabloid two years ago after it emerged a dwarf from Northern Ireland was earning POUNDS 250 an hour entertaining stag parties and hen do brides despite being on the sex offenders register in the UK.

He was named as Andy Collins in a report saying he had been sacked in the UK months earlier for hiding his crimes to work at a teenager’s St Patrick’s Day party near his home in Enniskillen, Co Fermanagh.

The Sunday People reported Collins was given a four-month suspended jail sentence and placed on the sex offenders’ register for seven years in 2014 after he forced his way into a woman’s home, exposed himself and told her: ‘No-one has to know about it.’

The bar owner reportedly reacted by posting a video defending him.

The complaint Spanish prosecutors are looking into is believed to have made only against Chaplin’s.

One of the partners told El Pais stag and hen do revellers were offered entertainment with dwarfs everywhere.

He said they had only used one person with achondroplasia but cancelled the show after a complaint.

Read more at DailyMail.co.uk