Disney latest to poke fun at Woods
LOS ANGELES, USA (AFP) — Disney has joined in making jokes at the expense of Tiger Woods even as a new poll shows the embattled billionaire golf star’s popularity sinking to levels usually reserved for politicians.
Woods has remained in seclusion since the sex scandal firestorm around him began four weeks ago and faces a Christmas holiday weekend and 34th birthday next Wednesday, what should be joyful times, as a mocked social pariah.
Woods has admitted cheating on his wife Elin and is taking an indefinite break from golf, potentially setting the stage for the 14-time major champion to miss chances to move nearer the record 18 major titles won by Jack Nicklaus.
Disneyland’s California Adventure Park in Anaheim has now written a Woods joke into its Aladdin show.
The genie in the tale says that he had to remind Woods 15 times that he was unable to make someone fall in love with him, the Los Angeles Times reported.
At least 14 women have claimed to have had affairs with the world’s number one golfer, who has lost one sponsor and seen several others quit using his image, claiming to respect his desire for privacy during his hiatus.
Woods has made statements on his website but has not been seen since the early morning car crash on November 27 — in which he suffered facial cuts and bruises — which ignited the media storm.
NBC last week estimated that a photograph of Woods could be worth as much as US$300,000, a paparazzi holy grail that has kept photographers looking for a Christmas gift by finding the reclusive sport star.
Woods might have something else to expect from Santa Claus for Christmas, as freelance cartoonist Deb Milbrath points out on the Association of American Editorial Cartoonists website.
She has a drawing of a stocking with “Tiger” and a tiger tail on it hung by a chimney, filled to overflowing by lumps of coal.
Adding to the woes for Woods was a new CNN popularity poll taken last week in which Woods has a 34 per cent favourable rank and 49 per cent unfavourable rating.
A similar poll taken less than a week after Woods’s car accident after he had admitted only “transgressions” and “personal sins” gave Woods a 60 per cent favourable rating compared to a 25 per cent unfavourable rating.
The new numbers showed women gave Woods a 40 percent favorable mark compared to 39 per cent from men. About two-thirds of blacks gave Woods a favourable mark in the poll compared to only 28 per cent of whites, the results found.
Last week, Woods managed only a 33 per cent favourable rating in a USA Today/Gallup poll, a plunge from his peak of 88 per cent favorable in 2000 that matched former president George W Bush for the biggest drop in the survey group’s history.
But the latest poll compared to a Washington Post/ABC News poll released last week showed a drop in support from men for Woods.
Woods had an unfavorable rating of 43 per cent in the Post/ABC poll compared to 49 per cent in CNN’s poll. Favourable marks from women for Woods were up a percentage point but his support from men was off seven per cent.