Well now, isn’t this interesting timing? Just two weeks after a Butler High Schooler student was criminally charged with assaulting a classmate who has a fruit allergy, the local cinema is showing an animated children’s comedy that incorporates the same theme.

In “Peter Rabbit,” the bunnies learn that the nephew of their nemesis, Mr. McGregor, has an allergy to blackberries. They pelt the boy with the fruit, triggering anaphylaxis as the child falls seriously ill and is shown stabbing himself in the leg with an epinephrine pen.

It’s supposed to be funny. Little children are supposed to watch this and laugh.

The real-life episode, the one that unfolded Dec. 13 in the cafeteria at Butler Intermediate High School, was supposed to be funny too. A 14-year-old girl intentionally exposed a 14-year-old classmate to pineapple, knowing it would trigger an allergic reaction, according to Butler Township police.

The victim’s allergic reaction required an emergency epipen treatment at the nurse’s office and an ambulance trip to Butler Memorial Hospital, where she was treated and released the same day.

The alleged attacker was charged with felony aggravated assault, felony criminal conspiracy, simple assault, reckless endangering, harassment and disorderly conduct. Two other students, ages 13 and 14, have been charged with felony criminal conspiracy, reckless endangering and disorderly conduct. All three are scheduled for juvenile court hearings this week.

On Monday, Butler School Board revised its policy to keep epinephrine pens on hand at all schools.

There’s nothing funny about that. Nothing at all.

The advocacy group Kids with Food Allergies Foundation, based in Doylestown, advises anyone who is thinking about taking children to see “Peter Rabbit” should first talk to them abut “food allergy bullying.”

In an advisory on its website, KFA said it “believes that food allergy ‘jokes’ are harmful to our community,” adding “The very real fear and anxiety that people experience during an allergic reaction (often referred to as an impending sense of doom) is a serious matter. Making light of this condition hurts our members because it encourages the public not to take the risk of allergic reactions seriously, and this cavalier attitude may make them act in ways that could put an allergic person in danger.”

It doesn’t take much imagination to see cavalier attitudes leading up to the incident inside the school cafeteria.

Other groups are calling for a boycott of “Peter Rabbit.” One of them, Global Anaphylaxis Awareness and Inclusivity, has started an online petition demanding an apology from Sony Pictures, the movie’s distributor.

It’s difficult to go so far as to recommend a boycott. Bad behavior — even criminal behavior — is a perennial subject of satire.

This case, however, is aimed at children, and it’s a subtler form of bullying, which most of us these days are only too eager to ferret out and condemn.