A mother in New Jersey has accused a Chuck E. Cheese employee of racial discrimination.
Natyana Muhammad took to her Twitter account @belllahijabi to call out a worker wearing a mascot suit for snubbing her excited 2-year-old daughter, who is Black. A video shows the girl being passed over by the mascot as he gives out several high fives to a group of white children.
“On July 30 at Chuck E Cheese in Wayne, NJ, my 2yo was racially discriminated against. As you can see, he gives all of the yt kids hi-5s & PURPOSELY ignored my black baby,” Muhammad tweeted. “When confronted, he ignored me as well. The manager, Angie Valasquez, made excuses for him. Saying she’s ‘sorry I feel that way’ but he didn’t see her, even after showing her the PROOF in the video.”
A day after the clip circulated on social media, Muhammed shed further light on the incident in an interview with ABC 7 New York. “There were a bunch of caucasian children who were there on stage that received a high five,” Muhammad told the outlet. “My Black child was the one being ignored.”
Despite her daughter’s attempt to interact with the mascot, Muhammed claims he continually ignored her. “When she turned around she was excited to see him, she saw that he was giving all the other kids high-fives,” she said. “She put her hand out. It was her turn. He like put his hand in and then down, and acted like he didn’t see her.”
Muhammed continued, “She even went around him to continuously give him a high-five, like, ‘OK, do you see my hand?’ It’s not just that he ignored my daughter, we were at a birthday party, so he didn’t acknowledge the table we were at, either.”
The company sent a statement to Patch reading, “Chuck E. Cheese is saddened when any family or child has a less than perfect experience. We want to thank the family who brought this to our attention at our Wayne, NJ location and for giving the onsite manager an opportunity to apologize and address their concerns in person.”
The incident occurs directly in the wake of a family’s $25 million discrimination lawsuit against the Pennsylvania theme park Sesame Place. The suit was filed shortly after another family’s accusations that an employee—also being filmed—ignored two young Black girls who were similarly thrilled to greet a costumed character.
“We sincerely apologize to the family for their experience in our park on Saturday; we know that it’s not ok,” a representative for the park told Complex of the viral moment in June. “We will conduct training for our employees so they better understand, recognize and deliver an inclusive, equitable and entertaining experience to our guests.”
