A Maryland family is suing SeaWorld for $25 million following an incident between a character and two Black girls at its Sesame Street-themed park in Philadelphia.
According to the lawsuit, during a meet and greet last month, four employees dressed as Sesame Place characters disregarded a man named Quinton Burns, his daughter Kennedi Burns and other Black individuals, as Fox News reported.
“SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment, Inc. and SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment LLC, engages in pervasive and appalling race discrimination against children in the operation of Sesame Place Philadelphia,” the lawsuit states.
The lawsuit reportedly claims the employees wearing the costumes “intentionally, wantonly, and publicly discriminated” against the family and others based on their race.
Additionally, it argues that SeaWorld knew of their “personal beliefs of racial bias toward Black people” and their “propensity to discriminate against Black people based on their race or color.”
The lawsuit is calling on SeaWorld to issue an “unconditional apology to Class Members and Black America.”
It demands SeaWorld implement “rigorous mandatory cultural sensitivity training for agents and employees, so they can better recognize, understand, and deliver an inclusive and equitable experience to all members of the public irrespective of their race.”
The company responded to the lawsuit in a statement Wednesday night, according to FOX 29 Philadelphia.
“We will review the lawsuit filed on behalf of Mr. Burns. We look forward to addressing that claim through the established legal process. We are committed to deliver an inclusive, equitable and entertaining experience for all our guests,” the statement reads.
William Murphy, a lawyer for the family, explained during a press conference that “racism is horrible when it’s perpetrated against adults, but it’s in a separate category altogether of horror when it’s perpetrated against kids who can’t fight back and who have to struggle to understand how ugly it is and how it must be eliminated from every aspect of American life.”
The lawsuit comes just after Sesame Place vowed to conduct bias training after a video of an interaction between two Black girls and a character went viral, as IJR reported.
In case you missed it:
#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
The video shows a character high-fiving people and then skipping over the two black girls.
Before issuing an apology, the company initially claimed the incident was not racially motivated.
“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 statement explained.
