Theme parks are supposed to be fun for the whole family, but one family recently visited Sesame Place, The Sesame StreetA themed park in Philadelphia, weeps obnoxiously after what appears to be possible racial discrimination on the part of a dressed-up character. This issue is now being addressed by Sesame Workshop, the company behind Sesame Street PBS, although they are not directly responsible for the park.
The problem started two days ago when a video went viral Instagram Two black girls appear trying to get a hug, or even just a confession from Sesame StreetRosetta during the military parade. The problem was that the person wearing the costume didn’t simply miss them, but seemed to tell them no and go away.
Although not seen in the video, the accompanying post claims that after denying the two children we see, the person in costume continued to hug a white child next to him. It would be one thing if the uniformed employee simply missed these kids, there would always be a lot of kids and it might be hard to give them all the attention, but it certainly seemed like they were seen, deliberately rejected.
If this is an isolated incident, this may be one thing, but since the initial video went viral, others have appeared. In every case we see dressed up characters ignoring attention-seeking children, and in every case the children are black. In one case a A costumed character literally knocks a black kid. After the online outrage, Sesame Workshop, the parent company that owns Sesame Streetnow has issued a statement Promising theme park employees will undergo bias training.
As stated in the release, Sesame Place is a licensed amusement park. The location in Philadelphia, where the incendiary incident occurred, as well as a second, new location in San Diego, owned and operated by SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment. Still, contact with Sesame Street It will definitely make Sesame Workshop take notice because this will reflect badly on them as well.
The Sesame Street The company has never been shy about taking action when it feels like Sesame Street The name has been smeared. We have seen Sesame Workshop sues filmmakers When they felt the dolls looked a lot like her. The company also has Take action against unauthorized Big Bird merchandise. One can assume that Sesame Workshop has now had a serious talk with SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment about what happened here. It will be interesting to see how this affects the relationship between the two in the long run.
Sesame Place has released its own statement, two in fact, on the accident. According to the first, who tried to explain the situation, Rosita’s character was not saying to these children “no”, but was actually replying to another guest, who wanted the character to hold their child so that they could get a picture. The family who experienced this was given a special opportunity to meet and greet as part of the apology. The second statement It is a more explicit apology which also included a statement that training was imminent.
Sesame Street It has an unparalleled reputation when it comes to children’s television programming and the show has always been at the forefront of diversity and inclusion, and certainly any theme park that agrees to bear that name should do the same. Whatever the issue here is, we hope it is dealt with quickly.
While most theme parks have attractions designed for their youngest guests, Sesame Place is unique in that it is a theme park designed specifically for these guests. Sesame Place is also a certified autism center, and is the first amusement park to carry this designation, which is all the more reason that staff at parks need to be extra careful when interacting directly with children within parks.
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