A mother who attended a parade at Sesame Place in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania believes a character performer shunned her daughters because of their race.
Kare11 reported a concerned mom posting on Instagram under __jodiii__, shared a video of her two daughters reaching out excitedly towards a performer dressed as the Sesame Street character Rosita.
The Rosita performer can be see high fiving Caucasian park guests, when they suddenly wag their finger in a "no" gesture to the crowd.
When the Rosita performer gets to the daughters, who are Black, they wave their hand again in a "no" gesture directly in front of the girls before walking off. The girls are clearly confused and hurt by the interaction.
The video went viral with celebrities including Kelly Rowland sharing it.
The Instagram account for Sesame Place Philadelphia eventually posted an apology.
Sesame Place Philadelphia explained the Rosita performer did not mean to snub the two girls, and was responding to the crowd's requests for them to hold their children for a photo opportunity, which is against their policy.
The brand also explained employees in the costumes cannot always see everything and everyone around them and may miss guests trying to get their attention.
They also indicated they spoke to the family behind the @___jodiii___, account and offered a special meet-and-greet opportunity for the kids.
But users on Instagram thought the apology fell flat.
Destiny's Child singer Kelly Rowland shared their disappointment.
@kellyrowland/Instagram
Others expressed Sesame Place's response felt inadequate.
@Jojo_simmons/Instagram
@theglamuniversity/Instagram
@chynaredd4/Instagram
@catrinas_world/Instagram
Sesame Place Philadelphia made another post—backtracking on their statement the interaction was a simple misunderstanding and promising to take action to "do better."
Some Instagram users were still not happy with the response.
@rev3.dan1ell3/Instagram
@justarandomstand/Instagram
@xx.slim__/Instagram
@chriss456__/Instagram
Other Instagram users started to share their own videos of Sesame Place Philadelphia characters ignoring Black children with multiple incidents involving the Rosita character.
Sesame Place has not responded to any of the additional videos claiming to show their employees behaving with racial bias towards guests.
u/Duskymoonlight/Reddit
u/Duskymoonlight/Reddit