A Newcastle hotel has apologised after advertising "midget-tossing" as part of a social event next week.
The pub, The Great Northern Hotel in Scott Street, Newcastle, had promoted the activity on its Facebook page as an element of its "Wolf of Watt Street" promotion on September 21.
But a public backlash and a report on ABC quoting the outrage of disability activists forced the club into an embarrassing about-face on Sunday.
"Our most sincere apologies to anyone who was offended by the comments made towards the short statured people of the public," the hotel said in a Facebook post.
"The venue had no intention to offend the short statured community nor were there at any stage of the campaign intentions to harm or involve short statured people. Again our sincere apologies!"
The post did not explain why "midget-tossing" had been mentioned in promotional material if it had no intention of involving short-statured people in the event.
The Newcastle Herald attempted to contact the hotel's owners for comment.
Short-statured people reacting on the hotel's Facebook page described the event as "deplorable" and a relic of the "dark ages".
"Are people that desperate for fun they have to degrade themselves to something so deplorable??" one woman wrote.
"As a person of short stature & a mother of 3 beautiful children who also have short stature, Im appalled and disgusted to see this hideous rubbish is still going on."