Sesame Street Theme Park Defends Costumed Performer in Response to Backlash, Accusations of Snubbing 2 Black Girls
Sesame Place, an amusement park based on the children’s TV series Sesame Street, defended one of their employees amid accusations of ignoring 2 young African American children.
The controversy took off on social media over the weekend when Instagram user @_jodiiii_ posted a video of her daughters as they watched a parade at the park. The girls were seen waving at Rosita, who was clapping hands with several white parade attendees further up the line. By the time the costumed performer got to the two girls, however, she waved off the crowd and moved past the children without interacting with them.
The mother condemned the performer for the “disgusting” snub of her daughters, and she claimed the performer went on to hug other white children. She also said that she tried to speak to management about the situation, and was left dissatisfied with the result.
“I asked the lady who the character was and I wanted to see a supervisor and she told me SHE DIDNT KNOW !!” The post says. “I will never step foot in @sesameplace ever again! And please feel free to repost this. Actually run me my money back. [I’m] so mad I stopped the video but it got me so mad when he blatantly told them no.”
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The post has been seen over 400,000 times as of this writing, drawing considerable outrage across the internet. The park wound up releasing a statement to insist the Rosita performer didn’t ignore the girls on purpose, and they said they reached out to the family to invite them back for a “special meet-and-greet.”
The performer portraying the Rosita character has confirmed that the ‘no’ hand gesture seen several times in the video was not directed to any specific person, rather it was a response to multiple requests from someone in the crowd who asked Rosita to hold their child for a photo which is not permitted. The Rosita performer did not intentionally ignore the girls and is devastated about the misunderstanding…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.
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Fox 29 reported that @_jodiiii_ responded to the statement by calling it “disrespectful” and an attempt by the theme park to “save face.”
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