What to Know
- In the now viral video posted Saturday on the mother’s Instagram account, two young girls are seen excitedly reaching out to a character at Sesame Place. The character is seen shaking their head “no” in the direction of the two young Black girls before walking by.
- Sesame Place issued a new statement Monday, promising to improve training for performers who wear the muppet outfits at the theme park in Bucks County, Pa.
- Other videos have surfaced on social media of people claiming similar experiences at the theme park.
A day after the mother of two young Black girls called out Sesame Place in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, for an incident over the weekend in which a character at the theme park appeared to deny and pass by her girls, an attorney for the family said the event has had a devastating effect on them.
"Their hearts were completely shattered by a character," attorney B'Ivory LaMarr told NBC10 in an interview Tuesday. "And tickets are not cheap. This is something these young girls were looking forward to. Words can't describe the type of grief they are going through right now."
In the now viral video posted Saturday on the mother’s Instagram account, two young girls are seen excitedly reaching out to the character Rosita, the first bilingual muppet on Sesame Street. Although it appears that the performer had interacted with other children before reaching the girls, the video seems to show the character shaking their head “no” in the direction of the two young Black girls.
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“We were on our way out of sesame place and the kids wanted to stop to see the characters,” the mom wrote on Instagram. “THIS DISGUSTING person blatantly told our kids NO then proceeded to hug the little white girl next to us!”
In response, Sesame Place Philadelphia said in a statement on Instagram Sunday that it the performer did not direct the "no" hand gesture, which was used more than once in the video, toward “any specific person,” but was instead gesturing that way in “response to multiple requests from someone in the crowd who asked Rosita to hold their child for a photo which is not permitted.” It added that the performer "is devastated about the misunderstanding" and noted the costumes its performers wear “sometimes make it difficult to see at lower levels” and that sometimes “performers miss hug requests from guests."
In another statement released Monday, the theme park said "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.”
The family said Tuesday that Sesame Place took a report at the time of the incident and told them that an investigation would be conducted. But they have not heard back from the theme park since the weekend.
Their attorney, LaMarr, said a lawsuit is possible. Other videos have surfaced on social media claiming similar incidents at Sesame Place in the past.
"We never bought the story that was told by Sesame Place, and I don’t think the world bought that explanation either," LaMarr said. "So it was not surprising to see substantial videos flourish to substantiate the allegations that are made in this case."
NBC News contributed writing to this report.
