‘Excuse Me! I Need Help!’: White Man Calls Security, Blocks Black Family from Entering Ride at Waterpark Despite Their Fast-Pass Access
A viral video resurfaced showing an argument between two adults at Sesame Place, a Sesame Street-themed amusement and water park in Philadelphia.
A white father appointed himself the line-cutting police and tried to block a Black family who claimed they had a Fast Pass. He enlisted his wife, called out for security, and even used his body, spreading his arms across the railings, to prevent a Black man and woman from passing.
In the footage, the Black man and his female companion tried to maneuver to the front of the line to join a cousin. The task proved shockingly difficult. The father stopped them in their tracks, immediately backing into them. He then spun around and threw an elbow, prompting the Black man to grab the father’s wrist.
“Stop it. You’re touching me,” the father snapped, then shouted toward security, “Excuse me! I need help. He’s pushing me!”
The father then grabbed both railings in the queue to intentionally block the path forward.
Tensions briefly settled after an exchange of words. But when the Fast Pass holder tried to bypass him again, ducking under the father’s arm, the father and his wife planted themselves with their backs to the family, forming a wall.
“C’mon! Let him pass, if he has a fast pass, just let him go,” said the woman filming from behind them in line. She later added, “They were all getting in one tube, so what’s the point!”
It turned out that the Black family was missing their Fast Pass wristbands and had entered the wrong line. But for most viewers, that detail didn’t change much. “You can’t put your hands on people (unless they tryna hurt you), because you don’t like what they’re doing,” one TikTok commenter wrote. “It’s the job of the employees to mediate the situation.”
Others echoed that view: “I would have told an employee. That’s how you don’t escalate situations. Gotta think like an adult, and his kids were there.”
That’s precisely what the woman filming did. After security arrived, the Black family left and moved to the correct line.
Reaction on Atlanta Black Star’s official Instagram was sharper. The top comment read, “They [are] doing way too much talkin. Once he physically touched me, it’s on from there.” Another wrote: “Dear White People, you are not disciplinarians for Black people. FAFO is still in effect.”
The video dredged up memories of another controversial incident at Sesame Place. In 2022, two young Black girls happily waved and held out their arms to a performer in a Rosita costume walking in a parade. Rosita high-fived everyone around them, then shook her head and waved off the girls. The backlash was swift, and Sesame Workshop, the nonprofit that runs Sesame Street, responded by conducting bias training with its employees.
While the father may have won the battle and the family moved to another line, he lost something in the process: he became internet-famous for all the wrong reasons.