Sesame Workshop To Start Bias Training After Viral Video Of Character Ignoring Two Black Girls

Sesame Workshop, the nonprofit behind Sesame Street, responded to a viral video that shows an incident of apparent racial bias at Sesame Place Philadelphia over the weekend.

The video, posted by digital strategist Leslie Mac, shows her daughter Paige with another little girl, both black, waiting on the sidelines in the park to meet the character Rosita. While Rosita high fives the rest of the guests in front of the girls, when it was their turn she waved the two children off and walked away.

The original video reached more than 550,000 views as of Tuesday morning, and a repost of the video on Twitter had gained about 8.5 million additional views.

The video caught the attention of many celebrities, who went on to comment about the conspicuous injustice through social media.

“Every Black woman was once a little Black girl who made this face when the way things are for us in America first broke her heart, actress Yvette Nicole Brown tweeted.

“These gorgeous girls will never forget that feeling!” Kelly Rowland wrote in a reply on Sesame Place’s Instagram account.

“This is absolutely disgusting,” Audra McDonald tweeted.

Sesame Workshop responded to the situation with a statement on social media, saying that the costumes that their staff has to wear tend to diminish their sightlines, and the reason the performer that had the Rosita costume on was gesturing “no” was to decline request to hold children for photos from other parents. They also assured that they had contacted the families of the two girls to apologize and invite them back for a special meet-and-greet with the characters.

However, Mac said that she hasn’t received any message from Sesame Workshop.

“This statement is the first & only time the family heard about this offer & Sesame Place has cut off email communications,” she tweeted. “The entire statement is a lie.”

Later on Monday, Sesame Workshop posted another statement in response explaining the course of action they are going to take in light go the accusations.

“What these children experienced is unacceptable,” read its statement on social media. “We have been in contact with Sesame Place, our licensed park partner, and they have assured us that they will conduct bias training and a thorough review of the ways in which they engage with families and guests.”