LANGHORNE, Pa. (WPVI) — Sesame Place is apologizing for a family’s experience at the park last weekend that was captured in a now-viral video.
After the continued backlash following an initial statement, the family venue now says it knows what happened was wrong and is committed to making things right.
In a statement Monday night, the theme park said it would conduct training for employees so “they better understand, recognize and provide an inclusive, fair and fun experience for our guests.”
The statement was in response to a video posted by a mother showing her two black daughters reaching out to the Sesame Street character “Rosita” during a parade at a park in Langhorne, Bucks County on Saturday.
The video shows the character high-fiving other visitors as he approaches the two children.
Jodi Brown and her lawyer told CNN on Tuesday that the Sesame Place character, Rosita, was intentionally racist toward her family.
The mother claimed that the heroine waved “no” and ignored her daughter and niece while interacting with other children.
“As soon as the hero passed them, there was another little girl next to them who was of a different race and [Rosita] hugged her,” Brown said.
She said the character hugged the other child with both arms. “By that time I had already stopped recording the video… I was upset so I stopped the video because I was like ‘what just happened?’
“The fact that this even happened, the fact that this is going to be a major memory for them when it comes to Sesame Place, is actually disgusting and unbelievable,” Brown added.
In its initial statement Sunday, Sesame Place said in part, “The performer portraying the character of Rosita has confirmed that the ‘no’ gesture seen several times in the video was not directed at a specific person … rather, it was a response to multiple requests from someone in the crowd asking Rosita to hold their child for a photo, which is not allowed.”
Sesame Place said, “The costumes the performers wear sometimes make it difficult to see on the lower levels, and sometimes our performers miss hug requests from guests.”
In the initial statement, Sesame Place said the performer “did not intentionally neglect the girls” and was “devastated by the misunderstanding.”
“We apologize to these guests for not providing the experience they expected and are committed to doing everything we can to earn their visit and the support of all guests,” the initial statement said.
But amid the aftermath, several new videos have emerged that appear to show similar incidents.
The park has not responded to those videos, but says it has contacted the family from last weekend’s video and invited them to a special meet-and-greet opportunity with park characters.
On Monday night, Sesame Place issued a follow-up to the initial statement:
“We sincerely apologize to the family for their experience at our park on Saturday; we know it’s wrong. We take action to improve. We are committed to fixing this. We will conduct training for our employees to better understand, recognize and provide an inclusive, fair and fun experience for our guests.
For more than 40 years, Sesame Place has worked to uphold the values of respect, inclusion and belonging. We are committed to doing a better job of making kids and families feel special, seen and included when they come to our parks.”
B’Ivory LaMarr, who represents the family, said the park’s response was not enough.
LaMarr emphasized that he is still investigating what happened and looking at all available options.
Brown and LaMaar plan to hold a news conference Wednesday with more details.
“At this time, we are calling for a sincere, authentic apology, recognition of the harm caused by the outrageousness of the actions and to do the right thing, to repair the damage caused to these two young girls,” LaMar said.
Sesame Workshop, the organization behind Sesame Street, issued its own statement:
“Sesame Workshop is aware of the recent incident at Sesame Place Philadelphia, which we are taking very seriously. What these children went through is unacceptable.
We reached out to Sesame Place, our licensed park partner, and they assured us that they will conduct bias training and a thorough review of the ways they engage with families and guests.
As a global non-profit educational organization with a mission to help children grow up smarter, stronger and kinder, Sesame Workshop has always championed respect, inclusion and belonging and is committed to providing the highest quality engaging experiences for all children and families. We hold our partners to the same high standards. We will continue to work with our long-time partner Sesame Place to ensure that appropriate action is taken and that incidents like this do not occur in the future.”
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