More families are threatening to sue a Sesame Street theme park after videos emerged they say show character Rosita appearing to snub black children.
The first footage appeared to show two young black children at Sesame Place being ignored by the blue Muppet.
The aunt of one of the girls, Philadelphia resident Leslie Mac who works as an ‘anti-racism trainer’ and was named in the top 100 Woke Women of 2020, said her family plans to sue the theme park and they have retained a lawyer.
Sesame Place called it a ‘misunderstanding’, saying the mascot likely did not see the girl, who had been celebrating her birthday at the park, due to limited vision in the costume’s unwieldy mask and was waving at a family behind them.
The theme park was then targeted by a woke mob and released a second statement, apologizing to the family and pleading to start ‘training’ their staff to prevent further incidents.
The family’s attorney, B’Ivory LaMarr, said that multiple families have now contacted him about the character acting similarly towards black children.
Sesame Street’s Rosita has been accused of snubbing black children at the Sesame Place theme park
More footage continues to emerge of the character appearing to ignore black children approaching the beloved star
The park has since succumbed to an outpouring of social media vitriol and has promised to introduce racial bias training for staffers
One video shows Rosita appearing to ignore a black boy who ran out to meet her during a parade
In a general statement, Sesame Place said they apologize to the family and are ‘taking actions to do better’
One video shows Rosita appearing to ignore a black boy who ran out to meet her during a parade, despite high-fiving nearby white children.
Another shows a young black girl holding out her hand and waving to Rosita, only for the character to ignore her and go and hug a white child standing next to her.
Other similar videos show the Sesame Street character appearing to prioritize white children in a mixed group.
One posted the caption: ‘Now, I’m not saying #Rosita is racist… but whoever is under this/those masks sure is curving a bunch of brown kids.
‘She ignored Lola TWICE last Sunday. (7/10) Lola ran up to her saying ‘ROSITA!’ The character went out of their way to change course and Immediately after she hugged and took a pic with a little white girl. Investigate this pattern.’
Other similar videos show the Sesame Street character appearing to prioritize white children in a mixed group
One video shows a young girl reaching out her arms to hug Rosita, but the character ignores her and then hugs a young white girl
Civil rights attorney Ben Crump said yesterday the actor’s ‘disgusting behavior’ was ‘absolutely heartbreaking.’
Attorney LaMarr said about the two girls in the first viral video: ‘Obviously, [the girls] were confused. They were in a lot of stress—the whole family.’
He said: ‘The family wants a couple of things. They want a public, formal apology. They want something that is genuine, authentic… Acknowledge what happened and investigate it and take the appropriate action.’
He added the family does not want to file a lawsuit but they may resort to action if the park does not satisfy their demands.
Sesame Street first came under fire for the footage which showed a character actor dressed as bilingual Muppet Rosita seemingly ignoring Paige and her cousin as they tried to say hello
Video shows the girls reaching out for Rosita as the character makes her way through the Sesame Place amusement park in Philadelphia
Rosita is seen high-fiving another guest while the girls stick their hands out towards her
Rosita gestures ‘no’ towards the girls – a motion the park says was actually being made towards another guest
ms mac took to TikTok yesterday to explain the circumstances around the incident.
She said: ‘If you haven’t heard, my great niece held her fourth birthday party at Sesame Place over this past weekend with her friends and their parents – and it didn’t end well.’
Mac went on to reveal that she was in talks with the the adult who had reportedly accompanied the two kids on the trip, who she referred to as ‘the mom and aunt of the two little girls in the video.’
‘While they were with a bigger group,’ Mac said, ‘this incident happened specifically to them.’
Mac said she had spoken to the woman, who she called ‘Jodie,’ and said the family were irate over the altercation and were planning to pursue legal action.
Mac then added: ‘The next thing I wanna address is the fact that more videos have come out since this video went viral.
‘I think we’re up to like six videos that show blatantly performers at Sesame Place ignoring black children and non white children while giving attention to white children.’
In a general statement, Sesame Place said: ‘We sincerely apologize to the family for their experience in our park on Saturday; we know that it’s not ok.
‘We are taking actions to do better. We are committed to making this right.
‘We will conduct training for our employees so they better understand, recognize and deliver an inclusive, equitable and entertaining experience to our guests.
‘For over 40 years Sesame Place has worked to uphold the values of respect, inclusion and belonging. We are committed to doing a better job making children and families feel special, seen and included when they come to our parks.’
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