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With each passing day, the Sesame Place controversy seems to intensify.
Some new footage has surfaced online. It shows the moment a 5-year-old black girl named Kennedi was snubbed at the park by employees dressed as characters from Sesame Street.
Kennedi's father, Quinton Burns, felt like his daughter was being ignored and has filed a $25 million lawsuit against the park for racial discrimination.
What is there is the new footage of the Sesame Place?
Video footage released by the law firm representing Burns shows a Telly Monster character walking by without acknowledging the little girl's outstretched hand. In the 29-second-long video, the employee can be seen going around shaking hands with other kids, while conveniently ignoring Kennedi.
When the little girl turns around, she looks incredibly disappointed and in a press conference, her father said:
“Just looking at her face, it makes me want to cry every time I see it.”
The lawsuit, filed by the Burns, states that Kennedi was ignored by a total of 4 employees at Sesame Place on July 18, 2022. The parents also claimed that the performers readily engaged with a number of white clients. However, when Kennedi put her hand out, she was ignored.
The Burns' attorney, Malcolm Ruff spoke about the case and said:
“We stand here before you today simply trying to fight and protect little Black children and their fundamental civil rights. She was ignored amongst a sea of other young white children who were able to interact, give hugs, high fives.”
Burns are not the first ones to report about racial discrimination at Sesame Place
However, this isn't the first time that the theme park has been accused of racism. A few pictures making their rounds on the internet show two black girls approaching one of the characters who simply ignores them before moving on.
The video of the incident was shared by the girls' mother and it shows them waiting for one of the characters to greet them. However, the character doesn't just ignore them, he simply denies interacting with them. Upon being snubbed by the character, the two girls are seen looking very disappointed.
In the video's caption, the children's mother swore to never enter Sesame Place.
The video was posted by the mother, who in the caption swore never to ever enter Sesame Place. She also added that the character went and hugged the "white girl" next to them after denying interaction with the former's daughters.
The video was widely shared across social media and Twitter users reacted to the racism pulled by the employees of the theme park. Some said that they have noticed the pattern and seen as many as 11 videos of racism being practiced at the theme park.
While the theme park has been a child favorite for more than four decades, the videos and images floating around the internet have left people wondering about the blatant racism the park seems to be practicing.
