‘Sesame Street’ Park Apologizes Over Viral Video Of Muppet Snubbing Black Kids
Sesame Street has served as a safe place for generations of children. However, over the last week, a beloved muppet has come under fire for purposely ignoring two young Black girls.
The character, Rosita, was walking at a parade at the Sesame Place theme park in Philadelphia, and was approached by two Black children who waved at her, expecting for her to greet them back.
Instead, the mascot was shown shaking her head and seemingly waving them off before walking away.
Footage of the incident, captured by Twitter user Leslie Mac who was with the girls at the time, has left the internet agape, with users crying prejudice.
#BabyPaige & her cute lil friends went to @SesamePlace this weekend to celebrate Paige's 4th birthday & this is how #SesamePlace treated these beautiful Black children. I'm HOT. pic.twitter.com/wATjpRzUF1
— Leslie Mac (@LeslieMac) July 17, 2022
Unfortunately, this purportedly wasn’t the only instance of Black children being ignored. Following the sharing of the clip, other videos of different Sesame Place characters displaying similar behavior have surfaced.
In response, Sesame Workshop, the nonprofit that backs Sesame Street, released an initial statement on Instagram justifying that Rosita was saying no to the crowd in general as it was against park policy for her to hold children. The organization has also invited the family back to the park for a private meet-and-greet session, which, according to the publisher of the video, has not yet happened.
Sesame Place Philadelphia has released a follow-up statement acknowledging that the behavior is unacceptable and that it will hold itself accountable for it. It also promised to send its staff for bias training.
— Sesame Place Philadelphia (@SesamePlace) July 18, 2022
[via The Hollywood Reporter and NPR, cover image via Sesame Street]
