Weighing in from Patterson.... He didn't flip off the crowd once... but twice. Prior to taking the stage he flipped off a business owner that allowed the pagent kids to get ready in his place of business. When the stage flip came his step father was heard yelling at him to "dont do it, don't you do it"! as each finger rolled down until only the middle finger stood. These people know their kid has a flipping habit. They are running to every news agency they can with this story. Bottom line the kid can't be trusted and neither can the parents, they can't even face the truth about their own poor parenting skills they have to blame the community that has no desire to indulge their off spring.

Rush,
When my step-grandson, Mathew, is 13, and we show him what it took to get "your 15 seconds of fame", he's going to say "That's all it took".
All of this is so far from the reality of what happened, it's bizzar. AL

Happy that there was a group that still know this is most certainly not what we want the little ones to lead their life by. They have no business being honored for any reason if they put us to shame.
Thanks to those that opposed this child holding any award acting like that. What happened to these parents that they have no control. He learned this somewhere.
I would have known at age 5 I would never disrespect my friends, Mom and Dad, then now we have laws that do not allow us to correct our children. . . . . . . . "Spare the rod"

Sorry about the age, meant 4 years old.

Sorry about the age, meant 4 years old.

Are you sure you don't mean 3 years old.

Who cares. Sounds like the kid's a brat.

Hey R. Smith, where do you get that Matt's parents are running around contacting the media???I know the parents and consider Matt my nephew. And they are not running around chasing the media, IDIOTS FROM PATTERSON are chasing the media!!! They contacted UPN 31, showed up at Mils and the mom found out the story was on Tuesday. She called to tell everyone to get over it already, why make a mountain out of a mole?? What people in Patterson really need to worry about is all the home builders coming in and tearing down the Apricot trees that Pattersonians so much love. Maybe if that trend continues, there will be no more Apricot Fiesta!!!

Sorry meant "she found out the story was on live on Sunday" (on Good Day Sacramento)

It was an innocent mistake... come on! This says a lot more about the so called adults in this situation that it does about the kid!

Letting their son be a part of the Mr. Apricot contest is more of a sign of their poor parenting skills than their son flipping off the judges.

Who gives a "bird" what the people are saying?! That poor little "BOY" was probably sick and tired of all the girlish crap and wanted out! His parents are obviously the problem not teaching him right from wrong and how bad behavior follows with consequences! You have to wonder how a 4 year old could learn such a gesture? Get the boys out of the pageants, and back into the gym and on the fields! Where is the masculinity in a pageant for peat sake? It's a wonder he didn't just moon them followed with the bird!

The Parents need to beat like an Orphan in a Charles Dickens story.

I know this child and his family and R Smith you are not being truthful. I was right there and his mother was horrified by his actions. She ran up and put a stop to it immediately. She has not taken it lightly but has to stand up for her son. This was not done purposely and it has gotten out of hand. For those who didn't know, they do now. Patterson looks ridiculous! The last thing this family wants is the media showing the story around the world. My God what has this world come to. We have Korea testing missles and this is making news around the country, how sad is that! All I have left to say is GET OVER IT PEOPLE!

That is so strange to know now that EVERYONE in AMERICA knows what happened, when thier stories are as far from the truth.I am Matt's step father and I know for a FACT, R SMITH that it did not happen as you say! There is no way that I would allow my step son to do that, in the town that we live in and that we continue to live in. He was diclipined right after the fact, and this story has gotten so out of hand that it's ridiculous. My wife and I have never once said that what he did was right, however it was a mistake and when people make mistakes they learn from them without the whole world judging them. R. SMITH you don't know me or my family so for you to say what you believe is the truth is so off! It makes me sick, may God forgive you!

There are some sick people involved in this story but Matthew certainly is not one of them. "Projection" can be a confusing concept to the mentally unstable. Those who stripped 4 year old Matthew of his crown for "flipping the bird" to a crowd are simply projecting their sick thoughts onto Matthew's behavior. I have seen no evidence presented indicating that Matthew believed the middle finger has the sick meaning that those who stripped his crown place upon the gesture.

When I first heard this story I thought 4 year old Matthew should have mooned these sick people instead of "flipping the bird" but then I realized these people are likely pedophiles and that would just get them off.

Well i was at the pageant and i think he knew what he was doing cause i remember him as the little boy that pointed at someone in the audience and yelled "im going to kill you" So i wasnt surprised to see that he would do something like that.