Sesame Place is a children’s theme park and water park situated in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The place is synonymous with fun, water attractions, shows, adventure, amazing rides, and families having a great time.
But the park is lately in the news for all the bad reasons. A black woman has called out the Sesame Street-themed park after she said her two black daughters were shunned by a character.
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Women Accuse Sesame Place Of Racism
According to a report from Revolt TV, a woman who goes by the name of Jodi lashed out at Sesame Place on racism.
She was at the park with her two daughters as they watched characters parade through the theme park. Video footage captured by the mother shows the two girls reaching out to touch a character Rosita in excitement. As Rosita nears the girls, she is seen giving high-fives to other children and a white woman.
Instead of giving a high-five to Jodi’s daughters, the character is seen waving her hand in a “no” and avoiding contact with the girls altogether. Jodi said the character clearly avoided contacting her girls but gave high-fives to other white girls.
She expressed her frustration in an Instagram post, sharing the video.
View this post on Instagram
Jodi wrote: “I’m going to keep posting this, because 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! ”
She further added, “Then when I went to complain about it, they looking at me like I’m crazy. I asked the lady who the character was and I wanted to see a supervisor and she told me SHE DIDNT KNOW !!”
“I will never step foot in @sesameplace ever again ! And please feel free to repost this. Actually run me my money back 😡🤬so mad I stopped the video but it got me so mad when he blatantly told them no,” Jodi concluded.
Sesame Place Refutes The Woman’s Claim
After receiving backlash from users on social media over the racism row, the officials from Sesame Place responded to the incident.
On Sunday, July 17, the theme park called the incident a “misunderstanding”. They said the employee in the costume was not saying no to Jodi’s children or anyone else during the parade.
They said the gesture was instead “a response to multiple requests from someone in the crowd who asked Rosita to hold their child for a photo which is not permitted.”
The park further stated that the employee dressed as Rosita is allegedly “devastated about the misunderstanding.” As a consolation, Sesame Place has invited the family back to the park.
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