Viral Video Of Snubbed Black Girls At Sesame Place Brings Bigger Racial Issues At The Park To Light
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Things are not looking good for the Muppet-themed amusement park Sesame Place right now. The Pennsylvania theme park has parents enraged after a video surfaced on Instagram of two young Black girls being snubbed by a performer, dressed as the popular character Rosita, during one of the park's parades.
In the video, the children wait to be greeted by Rosita, who gives one patron a high-five, waves off someone off-camera, then proceeds to do the same to the two confused tykes standing right in front of them. The video was posted by the girls' mother, who captioned the video "disgusting."
The woman, who goes by the handle Jodiii, added to the post:
"I will never step foot in @sesameplace ever again !" "And please feel free to repost this. Actually run me my money back."
Sesame Place was quick to respond to the incident on their Instagram page:
The statement was followed by another by the Sesame Street Workshop's Twitter, assuring, "that they will conduct bias training."
— Sesame Workshop (@SesameWorkshop) July 18, 2022
There was even a celebrity response from Kelly Rowland, who reshared the video in her Instagram Story. She was less than forgiving:
"So had that been me, that whole parade would've been in flames. Are you serious? You're not going to speak to my child? And did you see that baby's face at the end? The little one with the pink on? She deserves an explanation!"
Comedian D.L. Hughley also posted about the incident on his Twitter feed,
Its not shocking when someone in a costume at #SesamePlace gets to act racist! Why do think they wear hoods?? #TeamDl
— DL Hughley (@RealDLHughley) July 18, 2022
Evidently, this was not the first time this has happened. TMZ posted a video of one of the Honkers actually knocking over a small Black child with its potbelly.
Sesame Place might not be too friendly a neighborhood after all -- more videos are surfacing showing the park's costumed characters acting messed up to Black kids ... and now, the parent company's baling water. https://t.co/LCP1qhdznU
— TMZ (@TMZ) July 19, 2022
All and all, this is definitely a black eye for a property that has prided itself on inclusivity, caring, and education for all. Hopefully, this will at least be a lesson in who not to hire to work with the public in the future - and hopefully the bias training that came from it will prevent any more children from feeling the same sting.