Sesame Place in Philadelphia has been accused of racism after a mother posted a video purportedly showing someone dressed as the character Rosita ignoring her two black daughters during a parade. Ben Crump, the attorney credited with winning George Floyd’s family a record $27 million civil settlement from the city of Minneapolis amid the trial of former police officer Derek Chauvin, retweeted the video and weighed in, writing: “This is absolutely HEARTBREAKING!” “These two young Queens did NOT deserve to be singled out and blatantly ignored by this #SesameStreet character!” Crump said. “@SesamePlace MUST address the disgusting behavior of their staff!” The video shows the two black girls, one excitedly spreading her damage, waiting for the character Rosita to pass them during a parade in the park, as an Elmo character waves from a float in the background. Rosita’s character is seen pulling up at least one child and one adult before waving a no finger in an off-screen direction and then gesturing “no” again before walking past the seemingly disappointed girls. PHILADELPHIA 14-YEAR-OLD BECOMES SECOND CHARGE OF MURDER IN TRAFFIC CONE HIT OF ELDERLY “I’m going to keep posting this because it warmed me up. We were on our way to sesame and the kids wanted to stop to see the characters. THIS DISGUSTING person blatantly told our kids NO and then proceeded to hug the little white girl next to us!”. The mother claimed in a post she shared the video on Instagram on Saturday. “Then when I went to complain about it, they looked at me like I was crazy. I asked the lady who the character was and wanted to see a supervisor and she said SHE DOESN’T KNOW!! I will never go inside @sesameplace ever again! And feel free to repost it. In fact, give me my money back.” But Sesame Place later released a statement to apologize and explain the context of the situation, saying that the performer playing the character Rosita “has confirmed that the ‘no’ gesture that appears multiple times in the video is not directed at any specific person , was probably in response to multiple requests from someone in the crowd asking Rosita to hold their child for a photo which is not allowed.” Rosita, a muppet character from Sesame Street, looks down from a painting of Abraham Lincoln during an event in the State Dining Room at the White House in Washington, on November 29, 2021. (ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS/AFP via Getty Images) “Rosita’s performer did not intentionally ignore the girls and is devastated by the misunderstanding,” the first statement from Sesame Place Philadelphia continued. “We have spoken to the family and apologized and invited them back for a special meet-and-greet opportunity with our characters. We apologize to these guests for not delivering the experience they expected and are committed to doing our best to earn both the visit and the support of all visitors”. Sesame Place added that “the costumes our performers wear sometimes make them difficult to see at lower levels, and sometimes our performers miss hug requests from guests.” But that explanation still drew ire from Destiny’s Child singer Kelly Rowland, who commented in response: “These lovely girls will never forget that feeling! THEY ARE CHILDREN!!!!! You should be ashamed of her the pathetic statement!” Rowland also took to Instagram, sharing the video on her story to her 13.4 million followers. Kelly Rowland speaks on stage during the 2022 Essence Festival of Culture at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center on July 2, 2022 in New Orleans, Louisiana. (Paras Griffin/Getty Images for Essence) “TF! That made me so mad!” she wrote In a follow-up message, he told viewers: “Okay, if it was me, the whole parade would have gone up in flames.” “Are you serious? You won’t talk to my child?” added Rowland. “And did you see that baby’s face at the end? The little one in pink? She deserves an explanation. Hey.” Other Twitter users took on Sesame Place, including Leslie Mac, a digital strategist aligned with the Movement for Black Lives Electoral Justice Project, and HBO actor Wendell Pierce, who exclaimed: “WITNESS THE END OF ANNOCENCE. WITNESS THE TRAUMA . This moment is violent, scarring, psychological abuse.” Sesame Place characters perform in the 94th Annual Thanksgiving Day Parade on November 28, 2013, in Philadelphia. (Gilbert Carrasquillo/Getty Images) Sesame Place later released a follow-up statement, promising equity training for its employees. “We sincerely apologize to the family for their experience at our park on Saturday. We know it’s not okay. We’re taking steps to do better,” Sesame Place Philadelphia said in a statement Monday. “We are committed to getting this right. We will be training our employees so they can better understand, recognize and provide our guests with an inclusive, fair and fun experience.” “For over 40 years Sesame Place has worked to champion the values of respect, inclusion and belonging,” he added. “We are committed to doing a better job of making kids and families feel special, seen and included when they come to our parks.” CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP TMZ reported that the family of the black girls seen in the video, attorney B’Ivory LaMarr, is calling for an investigation and considering a lawsuit against the theme park. “While we hate to jump to judgment to consider ‘race’ as the driving factor to explain the performer’s actions, such actions both before and after the young lady’s request lead to only one conclusion,” LaMarr told TMZ . Danielle Wallace is a reporter for Fox News Digital covering politics, crime, police and more. Story tips can be sent to [email protected] and on Twitter: @danimwallace.
