Families sue Universal Orlando, say ‘Despicable Me’ character used racist hand gesture

[Disney4me]

A lawsuit alleges a costumed character at Universal Studios Orlando displayed a hate symbol in photos with Black and Hispanic children.

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By KATIE RICE

ORLANDO SENTINEL |

JUL 13, 2021 AT 3:09 PM

 

Photos released as exhibits in a lawsuit filed against Universal Studios Orlando in June 2021 show two girls, identified as H.R. and J.Z., posing with "Despicable Me" character Felonious Gru in early 2019. The girls' families allege the employee portraying the character made a "white power" symbol while posing with their daughters (photos provided, and edited by, the offices of McLuskey, McDonald & Hughes, P.A.)

 

A lawsuit filed in Orange County late last month alleges a costumed character at Universal Studios Orlando displayed a hate symbol in photos taken with Black and Hispanic children, according to records.

Two families say a team member dressed as Felonious Gru, one of the main characters from the Despicable Me movie franchise, discriminated against their daughters in separate interactions with them in February and March 2019 by holding the character’s hand in an “OK” gesture, which has come to be associated with white supremacists.

 

They claim in the lawsuit the employee dressed as the character knew the hand signal’s hateful connotations and deliberately displayed it in photos, directing it toward the girls’ families, and that the character’s handlers saw and encouraged the behavior instead of stopping it.

“In [a] display of open hatred towards the girls, the costumed man made a White-Power hand symbol while posing for family photographs and videos taken by their unsuspecting parents,” the lawsuit alleges. “Universal Orlando took no action to detect, avoid nor prevent this offensive and discriminatory behavior repeated at its park and hotel event.”

The girls, referred to only as J.Z. and H.R., and their families suffered “mental anguish, loss of dignity, loss of innocence, emotional distress, humiliation, embarrassment and loss of enjoyment of life” as a result of the encounters, the suit said.

The families are seeking more than $100,000 in total damages, with each plaintiff seeking over $30,000 for negligent and intentional infliction of emotional distress, among other claims. J.Z.’s parents are also suing for battery because they say the character touched her without her consent.

The families jointly filed the lawsuit against Universal City Development Partners Ltd. on June 23.

Universal spokesperson Tom Schroder told the Orlando Sentinel the company does not comment on litigation and offered no further information on the lawsuit or Universal’s contact with the families involved.

Families allege targeted hate

Five-year-old H.R. was visiting Universal Studios with her parents Geisy Moreno and Joel Rodriguez Feb. 16, 2019, when her family encountered Gru inside the theme park.

H.R.’s family was speaking Spanish to her while trying to get the character’s attention, and the lawsuit alleges Gru ignored H.R. while continuing to pose with English-speaking children. H.R.’s father had to beg the character for a photo, in which Gru displayed the hand signal.

J.Z., a 6-year-old biracial Black girl with autism, was eating at Universal’s Loews Royal Pacific Resort’s character breakfast with her family on March 23 when she saw Gru. She was excited to meet a character from one of her favorite movies and posed with him as he placed the symbol on her shoulder in photos and at least one video, according to the lawsuit.

The character also raised bananas above J.Z. and her mother’s heads in another photo, the suit says. Other people interacting with the character at the time were not treated in the same way, the lawsuit alleges.

J.Z. wanted to use the photo for a school project but was “humiliated” after she was told she could not because of the symbol the character made, according to the lawsuit.

The Anti-Defamation League, which tracks hate symbols, notes the “OK” gesture is “entirely innocuous and harmless” in most contexts as a widely understood signal of understanding, but it gained notoriety in 2017 after users of the website 4chan staged a hoax to promote it as a symbol of “white power.” White supremacists have since appropriated the symbol and begun using it sincerely.

Though the complaint acknowledges the gesture’s other usages, the families argue the character “openly and pointedly” used it as a “universally-known and universally-used hate symbol.”

Through the lawsuit, the families are claiming discrimination violating the Florida Civil Rights Act of 1992. They previously filed claims with the Florida Commission on Human Relations, which found it could not make a reasonable cause determination in either case on Aug. 7, 2020, records show.

Neither family could be reached for comment.

Universal unresponsive, families say

The families also claim Universal knew of the character’s harmful actions toward the girls and did nothing to stop it, according to the lawsuit.

After looking at their cellphone video of the interaction in August 2019, the Zinger family contacted Universal and were told the company was investigating the incident, the family told USA Today.

They said they received no updates until they reached out again and were told the investigation was “proprietary information.” Universal offered them a gift card and free tickets, USA Today reported.

It is unclear whether the same team member was portraying the character in the interactions with both J.Z. and H.R. According to the lawsuit, Universal Orlando has not released the employee’s name to the families’ lawyer, Lisa Riddle.

Riddle requested the employee’s personnel file from Universal on June 28, court records show. She also asked for incident reports involving allegations of Universal employees discriminating against guests. She did not respond to requests for additional information.

Schroder, the Universal spokesperson, told USA Today in October 2019 that the employee seen making the symbol in the Zinger family’s photo had been fired. Schroder told the publication Universal representatives were in contact with the family regarding the incident.

“We never want our guests to experience what this family did,” he said at the time. “This is not acceptable and we are sorry — and we are taking steps to make sure nothing like this happens again.”