Sesame character accused of racism after humiliating two little black girls (Video)
Company apologises
A heartbroken mother has lamented how her children were humiliated at a playground by a racist character at Sesameplace, Philadelphia in the United States of America.
The mother said her children had been putting pressure on her to bring them to see the characters only for one of the characters to blatantly shun them because of the colour of their skin.
She said the character hugged the little white girl beside them, but said a blatant ‘no’ to her kids.
The video the mother shared shows the little black girls eagerly holding out their hands for a ‘high five’ with the character but he waves them aside shaking her index fingers as to say ‘no’.
See the mother’s post on Instagram below.
“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! 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”.
Following a backlash, Sesame Street Philadelphia issued a statement on its Instagram account, arguing that it was not the character’s intention to ignore the girls.
“The costumes our performers wear sometimes make it difficult to see at lower levels and sometimes our performers miss hug requests from guests,” the statement said.
Sesame Place went on to say that it had invited the family back for a personal meet-and-greet opportunity with the characters.
Popular singer, Kelly Rowland, criticized the gesture, pointing out that the damage was already done.
“Those gorgeous girls will never forget that feeling! THEY ARE KIDS!!!!! You should be ASHAMED of yourselves for this pathetic statement!” Rowland wrote in a comment on Instagram.
Seeing that the tide of public opinion was still against them, Sesame Street issued a second apology on Monday. It apologized more directly and said its employees would receive more training for better guest experiences in the future.
“We sincerely apologize to the family for their experience in our park on Saturday; we know that it’s not ok,” the company said. “We are taking actions to do better. We are committed to making this right. We will conduct training for our employees so they better understand, recognize and deliver an inclusive, equitable and entertaining experience to our guests.”
“For over 40 years Sesame Place has worked to uphold the values of respect, inclusion and belonging. We are committed to doing a better job making children and families feel special, seen and included when they come to our parks.”
Cartoon character accused of racism after humiliating two little black girls pic.twitter.com/Ggnsfq6u1f
— Microsecondnews (@microsecondnews) July 19, 2022
