Kelly Rowland Blasts 'Sesame Place' over Viral Video of Muppet Ignoring Black Girls as Park Speaks Out

"Ok so, had that been me, that whole parade would have been in flames," Kelly Rowland said in her Instagram Story on Sunday

Kelly Rowland is speaking out about an incident during a Sesame Place parade, in which two Black girls were seemingly ignored by one of the characters.

The video of the encounter at the Philadelphia theme park, that has since gone viral on Instagram, infuriated the Destiny's Child alum, 41, as she took to her Instagram Story on Sunday to share her reaction.

The "Finally" singer first reposted the clip and wrote, "OH HELL NAWWW!!" In her following Stories, she shared a video message captioned, "TF! This just made me so mad!"

"Ok so, had that been me, that whole parade would have been in flames," Rowland wrote according to Newsweek. "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. Hello."

During her appearance at the Nope red carpet premiere on Monday in Los Angeles, Rowland continued to show her frustration.

"I'm still upset," Rowland told Entertainment Tonight on the carpet. "I was livid." She continued, "And I know, me personally, I would've burned the place down. I've said it before and I really mean it."

Kelly Rowland
Kelly Rowland. Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic

The original video was posted on Sunday by the Instagram user @__jodiii__ who appears to be the young girls' mom. In the clip, after high-fiving other visitors along the parade route, the character Rosita seems to dismiss the two girls by waving her hands and walks away.

"I'm going to keep posting this, because this had me hot." the user, who goes by Jeezy, captioned the video. "We were on our way out of sesame place and the kids wanted to stop to see the characters. THIS DISGUSTING person blatantly told our kids NO then proceeded to hug the little white girl next to us!"

Sesame Place character Oscar the Grouch performs during the 95th Annual 6abc Dunkin' Donuts Thanksgiving Day Parade in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Getty

The user also explained that when she complained to an employee, "they looking at me like I'm crazy." She continued, "I asked the lady who the character was and I wanted to see a supervisor and she told me SHE DIDN'T KNOW !! I will never step foot in @sesameplace ever again ! And please feel free to repost this. Actually run me my money back 😡🤬so mad I stopped the video but it got me so mad when he blatantly told them no."

On Monday, another Instagram user shared their own video of a different encounter at Sesame Place after seeing the viral clip.

"Since seeing [a] few other post like this in the past couple days I figured i should too," wrote user @lr_blitzkrieg. "Now, I'm not saying #Rosita is racist.. but whoever is under this/those masks sure is curving a bunch of brown kids."

She continued, "She ignored Lola TWICE last Sunday. (7/10) Lola ran up to her saying 'ROSITA!' The character went out of their way to change course and Immediately after hugged and took a pic with a little white girl. Investigate this pattern."

Big Bird is shown on a sign near an entrance to Sesame Place in Langhorne, Pa., . The first Sesame Place opened almost 40 years ago outside Philadelphia. A new Sesame Street theme park is set to open next month in San Diego. Officials on Wednesday, Feb. 9. 2022, announced the opening of the first Sesame Street theme park on the West Coast. It will feature Big Bird's Beach, Oscar's Rotten Rafts, and a Cookie-Monster Tower, among other attractions San Diego Theme Park, Langhorne, United States - 26 Dec 2019
Sesame Place in Langhorne, PA. Jeff Chiu/AP/Shutterstock

After the initial video went viral, Sesame Workshop released a statement on Twitter on Monday addressing the incident. "Sesame Workshop is aware of the recent incident at Sesame Place Philadelphia, which we take very seriously," the statement wrote, "What these children experienced is unacceptable."

The release continued, "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."

"As a global nonprofit educational organization with a mission to help children grow smarter, stronger and kinder, Sesame Workshop has always stood for respect, inclusion and belonging and is committed to providing the highest quality engaging experiences for all children and families," the statement continued.

"We hold our partners to the same high standards. We will continue working with our long-term partner Sesame Place to ensure that appropriate actions are taken and that incidents like this do not happen in the future."

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Sesame Place Philadelphia also shared a statement to Billboard on Monday. "We sincerely apologize to the family for their experience in our park on Saturday; we know that it's not OK. We are taking actions to do better," the statement read.

It continued, "We are committed to making this right. We will conduct training for our employees so they better understand, recognize and deliver an inclusive, equitable and entertaining experience to our guests. For over 40 years Sesame Place has worked to uphold the values of respect, inclusion and belonging. We are committed to doing a better job making children and families feel special, seen and included when they come to our parks."

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