Jodi Brown, the mother who said a Sesame Place employee dressed as the Rosita character shunned her Black daughter and niece, is now speaking out about the incident. Speaking with CBS News, Brown denied the park’s explanation of the incident, saying it wasn’t just a misunderstanding.
As Blavity previously reported, Brown shared video of the incident on social media. The viral clip shows Rosita first high-fiving several white children at Sesame Place Philadelphia. The performer then appeared to walk past the Black girls while seemingly giving them a “no” gesture.
The park later defended itself in a statement, saying “the ‘no’ gesture seen several times in the video was not directed to any specific person.”
“Rather is 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 said. “The Rosita character did not intentionally ignore the girls and is devastated by the misunderstanding.”
Brown refutes the park’s explanation.
“No, standing next to me, there wasn’t anyone asking them to hold a child or take a photo,” she told CBS News.
The park also said the performer’s costume may have contributed to the misunderstanding.
“The costumes our performers wear sometimes make it difficult to see at lower levels and sometimes our performers miss hug requests from guests,” Sesame Place said.
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Brown and her lawyer, B’Ivory LaMarr, continue to deny the explanation.
“We believe Sesame Place made a gross mistake in their first statement,” LaMarr told CBS News. “We believe their assertions are completely false and we believe we have evidence to refute that.”
The lawyer is also asking for the employee to be fired.
“We believe that there is no room for racism to exist at any theme park,” he said.
LaMarr adds that he has heard similar complaints at the park from about 30 families.
Brown and her lawyer said the company has reached out to them and they are “now in a dialogue to try to reach an amicable resolution as it relates to this issue.”
Brown said the girls were heartbroken when the character ignored them.
“I had to explain to them, ‘You didn’t do anything. It’s OK. I’m going to speak to a manager and find out why it happened,'” she said.
