Viral Moment: Groomsman Attacks Grimace at a Wedding. Wait Until You Hear His Excuse.

Videos obtained by The Globe show hysterical vows, an ABBA flash mob, a shirtless groom and Grimace at the after-party. Then a groomsman went for him. Sources say he claims it was a hug.

The wedding of Mike Blutstein and Karolina Bohn had everything. Videos obtained by The LA Globe show vows that were beautiful and, at several points, hysterical. An ABBA flash mob. An entrance by the bride and groom that can only be described as insane. A groom who, at some point in the night, lost his shirt. And then the moment the whole night was building toward: Grimace, at the after-party.

For a while it was the party of the year. The purple McDonald's mascot, roughly seven feet of him, worked the room the way a lovable mascot does. He waved. He hugged. He posed for pictures. He danced, in the sense that a very large shape can dance, while DJ Tony Gia broke it down on the decks. Guests held up their phones. The bride held out her arms. Everybody loved him.

Watch the video: Grimace at the wedding of Mike Blutstein and Karolina Bohn

Then a groomsman decided he did not like the way Grimace was looking at him.

The video shows what happened next. A man in a white dress shirt closes on the mascot fast, in dim light, and the two of them collide. Grimace, who is mostly air, takes it the way a bouncy castle takes a toddler. For a moment they are locked together, the groomsman driving forward and the mascot absorbing, while the crowd does what a crowd does at a wedding after-party, which is scream and keep filming.

It ended the way these things end at a good party. The groomsman let go. Grimace, being a professional, did not hold a grudge, because he cannot hold anything. Tony Gia never stopped. The bride, still in her gown, watched with the face of a woman who planned a wedding and got a pay-per-view.

The groomsman says it was a hug

Here is where it gets complicated. According to sources close to the wedding party, the groomsman now says he was never attacking Grimace at all. He says he was going in for a hug and, depending on which source you ask, a kiss. His arms were open, the sources say. He simply loves Grimace, and he loves him fast.

The Globe reached out to the groomsman for comment. He declined, and asked that his name be left out of it, citing what he called fear of retaliation from Grimace. We put the question to him a second time. He declined a second time. We respect that. Grimace has a long memory and a longer reach.

The tape got a second look, in the manner of a football referee reviewing a call. It does not settle it. It shows a man moving very quickly at a large purple guest. Whether that is an attack or an act of love depends on the angle, the lighting, and how you feel about Grimace. The Globe's position is that you can hug someone without running at him. But we were not there, and the groomsman was.

Grimace declined to press charges

The groom, who gave The Globe the videos, confirmed the important points: Grimace was invited, the night was a triumph, and the marriage went ahead. The Florentine Gardens has now hosted at least one mascot incident, and it took it in stride. The chandeliers stayed up.

The Globe has not asked McDonald's for comment, on the grounds that it does not want to know. Grimace himself could not be reached, and would not have said anything if he had been, because he does not talk. He arrives, he spreads his arms, and he trusts the room to do the right thing. Most of the room did.

What the videos show

The whole night, in order. The vows, which were beautiful until they were hysterical, sometimes in the same sentence. The flash mob, which broke out to ABBA with the kind of timing that means somebody rehearsed. The entrance, which we will not try to describe. The groom's shirt, which left the building before he did. And then Grimace, gliding into the after-party past the bride with his arms out, as every phone in the room came up at once.

So, to correct the record, in the spirit of the corrections policy this paper takes seriously: a groomsman attacked Grimace at a wedding, and the groomsman says he did not. Watch the video above, and then watch it again, and decide for yourself.