Two men were arrested Saturday outside Sesame Place theme park in Langhorne, Pennsylvania, during a protest accusing the park of racism.
The protest, featuring members of local activists as well as representatives of the New Black Panther Party, were demonstrating outside the park in connection with viral videos that critics said showed a costumed character refusing to interact with black children.
The activists at the protest maintain that the park has not done enough to address the viral videos.
“Your staff shouldn’t be treating any child different than the other, if you’re hugging children, then hug all the children,” New Black Panther Party leader Elijah Vine said, CBS 3 Philly reported.
Civil rights attorney Ben Crump, who was also at the protest, claimed that the viral video is a clear case of racism.
“You saw the video,” Crump told those gathered for the protest. “You look in their eyes when Rosita just ignores them as if they are invisible. As if they’re insignificant.”
“We’ve also received copies of emails of this same complaint being made to Sesame Place about their character’s conduct,” the family’s attorney, B’Ivory LaMarr, added. “So again, they have been put on notice well before last Saturday.”
The protest was spurred by a video posted to social media last week.
The video shared by a person named Jodi on social media shows her two daughters excitedly greeting characters as they parade through the popular theme park.
The mother of two little girls was furious after the costumed character was seen high fiving or hugging white kids, but when the actor got to her kids, he or she just walked on by without interacting with the little girls.
“THIS DISGUSTING person blatantly told our kids NO then proceeded to hug the little white girl next to us! Then when I went to complain about it, they looking at me like I’m crazy,” the mother wrote about her experience.
Sesame Place released a statement claiming that the incident was a result of a misunderstanding.
“Our brand, our park and our employees stand for inclusivity and equality in all forms,” the statement read. “Regarding the incident yesterday, the costumes our performers wear sometimes make it difficult to see at lower levels and sometimes our performers miss hug requests from guests.”
“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 park added that they apologized at the time to the guest and offered to have her children meet the characters in a special meet and greet.
The park also later promised to give employees “bias training” to mitigate any future problems.
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