Video shows Sesame Place character appearing to avoid Black girls, prompting theme park apology
By Gray News staff
Published: Jul. 19, 2022 at 12:08 PM EDT
PHILADELPHIA (Gray News) - Cell phone video showing a character at Sesame Place ignoring two small Black girls is making the rounds on social media.
It happened during a parade Saturday at the "Sesame Street"-themed amusement park in Philadelphia.
The character, Rosita, is clearly giving people high fives as she approaches the girls.
They are reaching out to her when Rosita shakes her head and hand "no" and walks away.
The video was shared by the girls' mother on Instagram. She captioned it "disgusting" and said she will never step foot in Sesame Place again.
The park released two statements on Monday.
The first statement said the character didn't intentionally ignore the girls but couldn't see them because of the constraints of the costume. It also said the "no" gesture was meant for "multiple requests for someone in the crowd who asked Rosita to hold their child for a photo."
The second one apologized for the incident, saying it's "not okay" and they are taking action to "do better," including holding inclusivity and equity training for their employees.
Copyright 2022 Gray Media Group. All rights reserved. CNN Newsource contributed to this report.