The Sesame Place theme park was accused of racism after one of its characters refused to greet a pair of little black girls. The video of the incident in which the "Sesame Street" character Rosita is seen shaking its head while ignoring the black girls, has gone viral on social media.
Muppet Hugged, Greeted Other Children at the Parade
The video, which was originally posted by the angry mother on her Instagram, shows her two daughters standing on the side of the road as the parade passes through. The green colored muppet is seen giving high fives and handshakes to the kids standing on the side-walk.
However, when it reaches the black girls, the character shakes his head in refusal to greet the girls, who are seen visibly dejected by the move. The character then moves on to hug a white child standing next to the girls.
In the post, the mother, who identifies herself as Jodiii 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! 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 !!"
Sesame Place Responds
Following severe backlash on social media, Sesame Place released a statement in which they claimed that the performer's "no" gesture was not intended to ignore the girls but instead a response to someone in the crowd asking to hold their child for a picture, something that is prohibited.
Another clips showing the same character ignoring black kids during an unrelated incident have also surfaced on social media. "So apparently the Sesame Place has a history of ignoring black kids... Here's a thread of the proof," tweeted a user, while sharing a series of clips.
"Jim Henson is doing backflips in his grave. Don't fucking dirty that man's legacy. Whoever was under the Rosita costume needs to be fired immediately and the park needs to give a sincere apology," tweeted a user.
"This is absolutely appalling to see from somewhere like Sesame Place. How and why it's always the person in the Rosita costume needs to be looked into," read another tweet.
