Sesame Place racism controversy: Two arrested during protest over viral video

Two New Jersey men were arrested for protesting outside Sesame Place on Saturday, July 23.

A 50-year-old man from Newark and a 46-year-old man from Camden, whose names haven't been made public, were arrested for obstructing traffic and taking part in disorderly conduct, including using expletives in front of children.

The protesters were at the theme park to support a New York woman who accused the park's employees of racism and ignoring the two black girls who were with her while hugging other white children.

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Protesters gather outside Sesame Place to oppose racist behavior shown by a park employee

The protest was organized after Jodi Brown's video showed a park employee dressed in a "Rosita" costume refusing to address two black girls during a character parade. Brown slammed the employee for being racist and attending to other white children.

The video went viral, with organizations deciding to protest against the behavior at the front entrance of Sesame Place on North Buckstown Road on Saturday afternoon. However, only two men representing the Delaware NAACP showed up on time and were arrested for misbehavior.

According to a press release from Middletown police, the two men refused to protest at the prearranged staging area organized by the park and repeatedly stepped into moving traffic.

Police said that their actions led to obstruction of traffic and forced vehicles to swerve and stop to avoid them. They added that the two men attempted to block the crosswalk, hindering visitors from entering the park.

Officers allegedly asked them to stop multiple times before arresting them.

Two different videos, showing the protesters being arrested, have been uploaded on social media. In one of the videos, one of the men is heard chanting "no justice, no peace," before getting into the police van.

Authorities claimed that other protesters continued with their demonstration for hours after the arrests were made.

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Celebrities slammed the Sesame Place video that went viral on social media

The video was uploaded to Instagram by Jodi on July 17, who claimed that the employee not only ignored her daughter and niece but also waved them a "no" before going on to hug a white girl next to them.

The video prompted other parents to share stories of similar experiences at the park.

Multiple users uploaded videos where a Sesame Place character ignored black children while hugging or giving high-fives to other light-skinned kids.

As the incident picked attention on social media, it caught the attention of Destiny's Child singer Kelly Rowland, who called out Sesame Place by saying:

“Had that been me… that whole parade would have been in flames. Like, are you serious? You’re not going to speak to my child? And did you see that baby’s face at the end, the little one with the pink on? She deserves an explanation.”

Even actress Whoopi Goldberg, who has previously worked with the show, revealed on The View on Wednesday that she reached out to the amusement park about the incident. She explained that the show is taking action to rectify the issues. She added:

“Well, I'll tell you why that's happened because I talked to the people at Sesame Street. Okay. Because I work with them a lot, and I said, 'What the hell? And basically, they said, Listen. We're all over this because our characters — the children must feel like these characters are the characters they expect them to be. So, we're all over this.”

She added that Sesame place is looking to provide diversity training to all its employees for better customer interaction with children visiting the park.

Sesame Place has since then issued two apologies.