INSIDE EDITION went undercover with one man to see what it is like being a little person in big city.
Just a year ago, Jon Novick moved from a small town to The Big Apple—New York City.
He told INSIDE EDITION, “It's frustrating. It's incredibly frustrating. I'm not a joke. My life is not a joke. And I don't want to be taken like a joke.”
Using a hidden camera, he has chronicled the kind of abuse he says he gets from people on nearly a daily basis.
In one case, a perfect stranger thought nothing of it to sit down at Novick’s table and ask him ridiculous questions.
The man asked, “Have you ever been on TV?"
Novick replied, "No."
The man then asked, "Do you know who you look like?"
"Who?," asked Novick.
The man asked, "Have you ever seen Little People, Big World?"
Yeah," replied Novick.
"You look like the son,“ said the man.
Novick said even children stare at him on the streets. So, he posted his video on YouTube called “Don't Look Down on Me.”
In the video, a little girl asked her mother, “What is he?”
Shows about little people are a hot commodity on television. But Novick said he's tired of being treated like a sideshow attraction, saying, “I was coming home from work and I was jumped over by some 20-something with a whole bunch of his friends behind me and I just got so furious, so angry that I just sort of broke. And I realized, ‘Okay, this needs to stop now.’”
INSIDE EDITION wanted to see for ourselves what he experiences. So, we gave him a hidden camera and followed him as he strolled along the streets, rode the subway, and walked through the always bustling Port Authority bus terminal. He barely got a glance from a stranger and no wisecracks at all.
But as he said, “Some days are worse than others.” Like when one guy intruded on his space at the pizza restaurant.
Novick said, “When everyone else is picking on you, making fun of you, taking pictures of you, harassing you, for their own pleasure, it makes your entire life feel worthless.”
