UPDATED: Mom Involved In Viral Confrontation At Sesame Place Speaks

UPDATED: Wednesday: 11:32 p.m.: 

Middletown police Lt. Steve Forman said the department is investigating the incident.

“We were made aware of the incident [Wednesday] and initiated an investigation into the incident. This afternoon police interviewed witnesses to the incident and family of Ms. Moore. We hope to interview Ms. Moore in person soon. We are working to identify the subject of the investigation and interview her as well,” Forman said.

The police official added that officers were not initially called for the incident on Monday. However, he noted that it was not clear if Sesame Place staff were “fully aware of the nature and totality of the confrontation between the guests.”

Middletown investigators have asked witnesses or those who can identify the older woman to contact them via their anonymous form, CrimeWatch, or via their Facebook page.

Original Story: 

A video of a Monday confrontation at Sesame Place in Middletown went viral Tuesday and Wednesday.

The clip recorded by Zafirah Moore shows part of a confrontation between herself and an older woman in a bathsuit at the theme park.

Moore, who is a black Muslim woman from Philadelphia, said the older white woman lost it on her after she asked her to calm down and stop cursing in front her children. The older woman had reportedly previously been arguing and cursing with another mother during an incident involving kids misbehaving. Moore explained the initial incident happened in front of her, but did not involve her family.

“I just simply asked them to stop cursing around the kids,” Moore told LevittownNow.com. “I thought it was inappropriate.”

At that point, Moore claimed the older woman began arguing with her, causing the mother to begin recording the encounter.

https://www.instagram.com/p/B0zTaRKBQYU/

The video shows the older woman giving Moore the finger, telling her to “go f**k” herself, and grabbing her cell phone. In the background, children are heard screaming as the woman yells about images of her being taken in a public place.

Moore claimed the woman yelled a bigoted trope at one point before she began recording.

“I honestly don’t think she yelled it because I was black, but because I am Muslim and had my garb on,” Moore said, adding the woman appeared to have biracial grandchildren with her.

“Just because you don’t understand something, doesn’t mean you need to not like it,” she said.

Moore said she was wearing her hijab, a traditional veil that is worn by some women of the Muslim faith to maintain modesty, at Sesame Place when she went with her family on Monday.

At the time, Sesame Place lifeguards and staff calmed the situation. Moore said she moved past the incident and just wanted to continue the rest of the family having fun with her family.

Police said they were made aware of the situation after the video went viral this morning and were looking into it.

Moore said her family plans to report the incident to police after thinking about what happened.

Sesame Place released the following statement:

Sesame Place only welcomes respect for others and does not tolerate this type of behavior. The guest depicted in that video was promptly removed from the park and will not be permitted to return. Creating safe and enjoyable experiences for all guests is our top priority. Our team deeply regrets that any park guest would have this experience in our park. It runs counter to everything we stand for. To be clear, the woman depicted in that video was not given tickets to return to the park.

On posting the video to social media, Moore said she felt it was important to expose the older woman’s behavior.

“All I wanted her to do was stop being vulgar since there were kids.”