Sesame Place Announces Mandatory Diversity Training Amid $25M Lawsuit

LANGHORNE, PA — Sesame Place has announced mandatory diversity training for its employees as well as an assessment of its own equity practices in the wake of a $25 million class-action lawsuit alleging racism against Black children.

The company says that national civil rights experts will be conducting the training and assessment. Training for all current employees will be complete by the end of 2022 and will be incorporated into the the future training process for all new employees.

Cathy Valeriano, President of Sesame Place Philadelphia, said that the company is "committed" to making guests feel welcome and included.

"We have already begun engaging with employees, guests, civil rights groups as well as community leaders, and instituted some interim measures at the park while the review proceeds," Valeriano said in a statement. "The actions we are taking will help us deliver on our promise to provide an equitable and inclusive experience for all our guests every day."

The suit, filed against Sesame Place's owner SeaWorld in Pennsylvania federal court, says that costumed characters like Elmo, Ernie, and others refused to speak to Black children during recent meet and greet events, while hugging and high-fiving white children. It cites racist behavior dating to July 2018, and seeks a jury trial for damages inflicted since then.

"The behavior of Sesame Place's costumed park workers is reprehensible," civil rights attorney William Murphy, who is representing one of the families, said in a statement. "Class members, some as young as 5 years old, adore these characters, and to be shunned by them so brazenly will have a lasting negative affect on their sense of self-worth."

Murphy added that other videos on social media show that ignoring Black children is a demonstrable pattern at Sesame Place.

Pennsylvania mother Jodi Brown called out the Langhorne theme park on Instagram earlier this month in a video posted to her account. The nine-second video appeared to show two 6-year-old Black girls viewing a character parade while Sesame Street character Rosita high-fived other attendees.

But when the girls reached out to Rosita as she approached, the character wagged her finger and shook her head as she passed the children.

"THIS DISGUSTING person blatantly told our kids NO then proceeded to hug the little white girl next to us!" Brown wrote in the Instagram post.

In the post, she also said she asked to speak to a supervisor, but the staff couldn't tell her who was in charge.