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$25 million lawsuit against US theme park for discrimination - report | Video
A nine-second purported video clip of the incident from a ‘meet and greet’ event and parade at the theme park, had gone viral earlier this month.
A Black family in the United States on Wednesday filed a class action lawsuit for $25 million against a Sesame Street-themed amusement park a in federal court in Pennsylvania for allegedly racially discriminating against their 6-year-old girls. A purported video of the incident showing a costumed character waving off two Black girls during a parade had gone viral online earlier this month.
The amusement park had even apologized and promised more training for its employees. Sesame Place in Philadelphia has been the official “Sesame Street” theme park for more than four decades. It opened in 1980.
In an initial statement, Sesame Place said the park and its employees stood for “inclusivity and equality in all forms.”
“The Rosita performer did not intentionally ignore the girls and is devastated by the misunderstanding,” the statement said. Performers sometimes miss requests for hugs because the costumes they wear make it difficult to see at lower levels, Sesame Place justified their stand.
According to reports, the nine-second video clip, filmed during a ‘meet and greet’ event and parade at the theme park, was posted to Instagram by Jodi Brown – the mother of one of the girls.
The video showed the character Rosita from Sesame Street high-fiving a white child and woman and then gesturing “no” and walking away from the two Black girls who had their arms stretched out for a hug and high-five during the parade at Sesame Place in Langhorne, outside Philadelphia.
“I will never step foot in @sesameplace ever again,” Brown had said in a social media post.
The family's lawyer had told the Associated Press that they were appalled and disturbed by the incident and “the injuries propagated to their children.”
“You would expect a reputable organization, the one as well revered as Sesame Street and Sesame Place to stand on those principles and values in which they portray,” the lawyer said, as quoted by AP.
Subsequently, people on the internet expressed outrage, calling for a boycott of the amusement park. Sesame Place issued another statement apologizing again and promising that it was “taking action to do better.”
(With agency inputs)
