Philadelphia-based theme park Sesame Place is under fire after a viral video showed its “Rosita” character seemingly ignoring two Black girls.
The video, which was posted on Instagram by the mother of the children, shows the “Sesame Street” character giving high-fives to a number of white guests but then waving off the two young Black girls. In the video, “Rosita” can be seen shaking her head and motioning “no” to the two children as she walks past, leaving them looking disappointed.
The video has garnered over 384,000 views since it was posted on Sunday. In the post’s caption, the mother of the girls said “..this had me hot. We were on our way out of sesame place and the kids wanted to stop to see the characters. THIS DISGUSTING person blatantly told our kids NO then proceeded to hug the little white girl next to us!”
The mother continued, “I will never step foot in @sesameplace ever again!”
The video, which has also captured the attention of Destiny’s Child singer Kelly Rowland, caused an uproar on social media. Users are now calling out the Sesame Place Philadelphia for allegedly being racist and said the employee that played “Rosita” should be fired.
So this happened at Sesame Place today and this is unacceptable. Who ever is in this costume needs to be fired please RETWEET pic.twitter.com/x7CwZ9cFfk
— singer guy (@AlexJaySINGER) July 17, 2022
You need to fire that employee Sesame Place. This goes against everything that this property has been teaching children since 1969. https://t.co/bOqHzHNxXl
— CHRIS RYAN (@CJ_ChrisRyanOWD) July 18, 2022
This happened at @sesamestreet place Amusement park. This costumed character skipped over 2 little Black girls & interacted with all the surrounding white children. This isn’t the first time something like this happened at a Sesame Place location. That employee needs to be fired pic.twitter.com/pa9LeETKS6
— Tariq Nasheed __ (@tariqnasheed) July 18, 2022
Rowland, who has 13.4 million followers on Instagram, also criticized Sesame Place for the incident, saying in an Instagram story that if she was the mother of the two girls, “the whole parade would have been in flames.”
Sesame Place did release a statement about the incident on Sunday, saying, in part, “Our brand, our park and our employees stand for inclusivity and equality in all forms. That is what Sesame Place is all about and we do not tolerate any behaviors in our parks that are contrary to that commitment.”
It continued, “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.”
Sesame Place said that it has apologized to the family and invited them back for a special meet-and-greet with the theme park’s characters.
Photo: Gilbert Carrasquillo/Getty Images
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