An outraged mother is speaking out after claiming her two black daughters were victims of racism at the Sesame Place Philadelphia parade. The mother, identified as Jodi on Instagram, posted a video of her children watching the theme park parade.
In the video, the Rosita character approaches the young girls whilst passing out high fives to everyone. Instead of high-fiving Jodi’s two daughters, Rosita shakes her head and appears to wave her hand “no” whilst avoiding contact with the girls altogether. The Philly mother claims that Rosita embraced a white girl after refusing to interact with her children.
Jodi took to Instagram to share the footage and her grievances. Jodi went ahead to state that the theme park personnel neglected to take her complaints seriously.
“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 [Sesame Place] ever again! ” she wrote.
Kelly Rowland reacts to viral video of Sesame Place racism
The video has since gone viral, sparking outrage among social media users. The theme park received negative backlash from many celebrities, including American singer-songwriter Kelly Rowland, former member of Destiny’s Child. Kelly took to her Instagram story to share the video and express her thoughts.
“So had that been me, that whole parade would have been in flames. Like, are you serious?!” Rowland says. “You not gonna speak to my child? And then did you see that little baby’s face at the end, the one with the pink on?”
Rowland goes on to express that the disappointed child deserved an explanation.
Sesame Place respond to racism accusations
Sesame Place Philadelphia has since issued an official statement. The theme park responded to Jodi’s claims with an explanation about the employee’s behaviour.
The theme park declares the incident was not a racially motivated incident.
“The costumes our performers wear sometimes make it difficult to see at lower levels and sometimes our performers miss hug requests from guests.” stated Sesame Place.
“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, rather it was 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 Rosita artist did not intentionally ignore the girls and is devastated by the misunderstanding.” claims the theme park.
Sesame Place confirmed they have spoken with the family to apologize and invited them to return for a private interview.
Social media users voiced their disapproval of the apology, believing it to be insincere and defensive.
