Sesame Place Sued for Discrimination As Multiple Videos, Accusations Surface
The Sesame Street-themed amusement park is being sued for $25 million
Sesame Place, a Sesame Street-inspired amusement park, is facing a $25 million discrimination lawsuit following allegations made by a Baltimore family, who claim their 5-year-old Black daughter was ignored by multiple characters at a meet-and-greet event last month.
The lawsuit was filed in a Philadelphia federal court by Quinton Burns, who claims his daughter, Kennedi Burns, and other Black visitors were intentionally snubbed at the event on June 18, while the costumed characters "readily engaged with numerous similarly situated white customers," per The Hollywood Reporter.
The Burns family—which is seeking $25 million in compensation—accuses the owner of the Sesame Place, SeaWorld Parks, of "pervasive and appalling race discrimination."
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NBC reports the Burns family pursued the lawsuit in the wake of another viral social media video, which shows two other young Black girls who were also ignored by a performer dressed up as the character Rosita while attending a parade at the park in Langhorne, Pennsylvania earlier this month.
The shocking clip shows the two girls reaching for a high five from the character, who brushes them off and signals "no," before continuing to high five other visitors.
The video—which was posted to Instagram by one of the girls' mothers, Jodi Brown—gained hundreds of thousands of views before eliciting a response from the theme park.
But the statement released by Sesame Place wasn't exactly what was expected, as the park tried denying that the incident was rooted in discrimination, claiming: "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," according to Fox News.
After receiving backlash from the statement, Sesame Place eventually released an official apology, admitting the incident was "unacceptable."
"It happened in our park, with our team, and we own that," the statement continued. "It is our responsibility to make this better for the children and the family and to be better for all families."
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