2 Black Children Were Allegedly Ignored By A Mascot At Sesame Place And Their Parents May Sue For Racial Discrimination
Amusement park Sesame Place Philadelphia is under fire for a brief incident that took place between a Muppet character named Rosita and two black children who were allegedly ignored by the mascot. The parents are now seeking legal action.
Over the weekend, a short video went viral in which two young black girls were watching a parade at Sesame Place when the character Rosita walked by during a parade and seemingly didn't stop to say hello to the children. The parents are furious and have already sought legal counsel to take action.
2 Black Children Were Allegedly Ignored by a Mascot at Sesame Place
In the 9-second video, Rosita is seen walking past a group of people, waving, and giving high-fives. As soon as the mascot passed by the two young black girls, who were reaching out for a hug or at least some sort of interaction, it looked away and kept walking past them. Several Twitter users shared the video and passionately insisted that this was a product of racism.
People are claiming that the character Rosita intentionally ignored the children because of the color of their skin. Various other accounts are sharing other short videos to try to claim that Sesame Place has a history of discriminating against black kids.
Sesame Place Philadelphia released a statement on their Instagram stating that Rosita "did not intentionally ignore the girls and is devastated about the misunderstanding." They spoke to the parents and asked them back for a meet-and-greet.
"We apologize to these guests for not delivering the experience they expected and we commit to do our best to earn their and all guests' visit and support," they wrote.
They released another post on Instagram apologizing yet again for the incident. "We are taking actions to do better. We are committed to making this right," they wrote. "We will conduct training for our employees so they better understand, recognize and deliver an inclusive, equitable and entertaining experience to our guests."
B'Ivory LaMarr is the attorney representing the family, and she told TMZ that they want to investigate the incident closely and interview other people in attendance. They are considering suing Sesame Place for the incident, citing that this was an intentional act based on the color of the children's skin. She said the family is "completely appalled" by what they witnessed.
"While we hate to rush to judgment to consider 'race' as the motivating factor to explain the performer's actions, such actions both before and after the young girls' request only lead to one conclusion," she stated.