Family demands $25 million from Sesame Street theme park over claims of racial bias toward children

A Baltimore family is demanding $25 million from a children's theme park over allegations that workers there have engaged in sustained patterns of racist behavior. 

Outrage erupted across social media earlier this month with a video that appeared to show a costumed Sesame Place worker ignoring two young black girls during a parade. 

Now a lawsuit filed in federal court in Pennsylvania is leveling specific legal allegations against Sesame Place owner SeaWorld Parks, with the family filing it claiming that workers for that company have engaged in "pervasive and appalling race discrimination.”

The family—which is not related to the one depicted in the viral video earlier this month—is demanding $25 million from SeaWorld Parks for damages; the allegations on which the suit rest stem from a mid-June visit to Sesame Place. 

The suit is seeking class-action status as part of its filing.