A Sesame Street-themed amusement park has apologized after a viral video appeared to show a costumed character waving off two 6-year-old Black girls at a parade in Philadelphia.
The mother of one of the girls posted the video from the incident at Sesame Place to Instagram on Saturday.
It showed the character Rosita high-fiving a white child and woman, then gesturing "no" and walking away from the two Black girls who had their arms outstretched.
The park said the performer portraying Rosita did the "no" hand gesture in response to those asking them to hold their child, which is not permitted.
"The Rosita performer did not intentionally ignore the girls and is devastated by the misunderstanding," the park said.
Sesame Place has issued two apologies since, saying the performer did not intentionally ignore the girls and promising to take action to do better.
In its first statement, Sesame Place explained that the costumes their performers wear "sometimes make it difficult to see at lower levels and sometimes our performers miss hug requests from guests."
In a follow-up statement, Sesame Place apologized again and promised they were “taking action to do better."
"We will conduct training for our employees, so they better understand, recognize, and deliver on inclusive, equitable, and entertaining experience to our guests," the park said.
