Screenshots of Instagram video (@__joji__)
A mother is outraged after capturing the moment her daughters were ignored by someone playing the Rosita character from Sesame Street. Sesame Place Philadelphia is now facing backlash.
“I am going to keep posting this because this had me hot,” the mother with the Instagram name, @__jodiii___, said. “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 report 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.”
In the video, Rosita is seen high-fiving everyone else but the two Black girls, telling them “no.”
The video had many people, including celebrities, outraged. Singer Kelly Rowland commented on the video on her Instagram story.
“Okay, so had that been me, that whole parade would have been in flames,” Rowland said. “Like, are you serious? You’re not going to speak to my child? And did you see that baby’s face at the end? The little one with the pink on? She deserves an explanation.”
Sesame Place Philadelphia released a ridiculous statement explaining what occurred.
“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. “The performer portraying the Rosita character has confirmed that the ‘no’ hand gesture seen several times in the video was not directed to any specific person; rather, it was a response to multiple requests from someone in the crowd who asked Rosita to hold their child for a photo which is not permitted. The Rosita performer did not intentionally ignore the girls and is devastated about the misunderstanding.”
Rosita’s character could look down and see the kids because, before the mother’s girls, the character high-fived other kids. But the employee told the girls no and didn’t bother touching them.
She responded to Sesame Place’s statement.
“Never asked for that character to take a picture, and as I am watching my video, I don’t believe that family asked either,” she said on her Instagram story. “I wholeheartedly feel as though that statement was released to save face.”