BALTIMORE –– A Baltimore family has filed a $25-million lawsuit against a children’s theme park after numerous allegations of racism against Black children who visited Sesame Place north of Philadelphia.
Quinton Burns’ attorneys shared a video of the moment a Sesame Place character in costume ignored his young Black daughter but gave the White kids attention.
“I am hurt, devastated, me and my wife, just looking at her face,” Burns said. “It makes me want to cry every time I see it.”
“Kennedi was forced to experience racism at the age of five. This is unacceptable and we will not stand by and allow this to continue,” said Malcolm Ruff, an attorney with the Murphy Falcon Murphy law firm in Baltimore.
Sesame Place is owned by Sea World Parks and Entertainment and the Baltimore attorneys who represent the family say they’re suing for compensatory and punitive damages claiming that there’s been a pattern of employees snubbing Black kids.
On that same father’s day weekend, a video of two young girls from New York went viral when another character walked past them after greeting white kids moments before.
Civil rights attorney Ben Crump is now representing that family and they are not associated with the Baltimore case.
“You saw the video. You look in their eyes when Rosita just ignores them as if they are invisible,” Crump said.
Sesame Place initially said in an extended statement posted on Instagram “the costumes our performers wear sometimes make it difficult to see at lower levels and sometimes our performers miss hug requests.”
But after intense criticism, the organization followed up the day after saying they apologized to that family from New York.
“We are taking actions to do better,” the organization said. “We are committed to making this right.”
The attorneys for this Baltimore family believe there could be hundreds of Black victims who’ve been discriminated against at the park and that’s why they’ve filed a class action lawsuit.
“We are here to make sure that justice is done for the families who did not have an experience at that park that they paid to get. And the reason they didn’t get the experience that they paid to get was simply because of their race,” said Billy Murphy, founding partner at Murphy Falcon Murphy law firm.
It’s important to note that the New York family is not part of this lawsuit with the Baltimore family. It also appears that the New York family is distancing itself from the Baltimore family’s case.
Below is a portion of the statement from attorneys B’Ivory LaMarr and Benjamin Crump who represent the New York family.
“While we understand such frustration from its patrons and the communities affected by such behavior, we find it equally important to maintain the credibility of the issue at hand and continue to only represent viable claims,” the statement reads. “Accordingly, we screen and continue to assess each potential claim to ensure merit. We believe this is a special moment for America to effectuate real change and would hate to have such a moment compromised with claims that are not viable or for interests that are purely self-serving.”