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2022 Essence Festival Of Culture - Ernest N. Morial Convention Center - Day 2

Source: Paras Griffin / Getty

Kelly Rowland has responded to a video that seemingly shows a Sesame Street mascot blatantly ignoring two black children during a parade.

The event took place at the Sesame Place theme park in Philadelphia. In the clip. you’ll see the Sesame Street character Rosita walking, waving, and high-fiving with visitors to the theme park. However, when she gets near the two young black children who are excited for a hug, she appears to wave them off, and proceeds to move forward with the parade.

The original video was posted Sunday by Instagram user @__jodiii__, who appears to be the mother of the two girls. In the caption of the event, she wrote, “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!”

The video went viral and was widely reposted to multiple accounts across several social media platforms.

Rowland, who took to her Instagram stories to share her reaction, was livid. “Had that been me that whole parade would have been up in flames,” said the Destiny’s Child star. You can see her entire reaction [here].

Sesame Street responded on its official Instagram account after the video began to trend.

“Our brand, our park and our employees stand for inclusivity and equality in all forms,” the statement begins. “Regarding the incident yesterday, the costumes our performers wear sometimes make it difficult to see at lower levels and sometimes our performers miss hug requests from guests.”

Do you think Sesame Street is racist? We’ll have more on this story as details emerge.