Universal caves in and settles race discrimination suit after Despicable Me’ character Gru ‘made white power OK symbol’ with black girl, 6, and Hispanic girl, 5, at Orlando theme park
- Two families reached a settlement with Universal Orlando after they accused theme park actors of doing a white power symbol while taking picture with non-white kids
- The two incidents involved different actors and occurred in February and March 2019
- Both of the men have been fired following the incident, but Universal denied in court that the men were doing the ‘OK’ white power hand sign
- Since 2017, the sign has been associated with far-right politics
- The family’s lawyer said the lawsuit was launched in part to ensure that such incidents never happen again
Universal Orlando has settled a race discrimination lawsuit over claims a character from Despicable Me made a white power ‘OK’ symbol on two occasions, while stood behind six year-old black girl and five year-old Hispanic girl.
The lawsuits were brought by Tiffiney and Richard Zinger and Geisy Moreno and Joel Rodriguez over encounters with the character Gru, who was played by a different Universal worker during each of the two controversial encounters.
The two sets of parents said their children were victims of the discrimination in two separate incidents in February and March 2019. The first incident took place inside a Universal theme park, the second was during breakfast at a resort hotel.
The terms of the settlement reached by the parties has not been made public, reports the Orlando Sentinel. The case was closed on September 12.
Forming your hand into an ‘OK’ shape by touching the tips of your thumb and index finger, then splaying your other fingers out is said to be a racist symbol.
That is because the splayed fingers may appear to form the letter W, while the index finger and thumb can be seen to form the tip of a P, with those initials standing for ‘white power.’
The families original sued Universal Orlando for $30,000, that later increased to $150,000 – $75,000 each. Their suits was filed in Orange County, Fla, where Universal is based. That saw the entertainment giant accused of violating the Florida Civil Rights Act of 1992, although one of the two men in the suit at the time of the incidents denied his behavior was racist.
In a similar case from July, a Baltimore family launched a $25 million lawsuit against a Sesame Street-themed amusement park.
The family accused the actors portraying characters of ignoring black guests during a meet-and-greet in June. Quinton Burns said of his daughter, Kennedi’s snub: ‘Just looking at her face, it makes me want to cry every time I see it.
One of the photos cited in the lawsuit of the character posing with a Hispanic girl in March 2019 is pictured above. Gru appears to be making the making the white power symbol with his left hand
Tiffiney Zinger, a US Army veteran of Colorado Springs said that she was excited to bring her child for breakfast with the characters of her favorite movie when the incident occurred
The characters are accused of making the white power symbol, pictured
The families also alleged the performers touched their children without consent and therefore caused emotional distress.
The two actors portraying the characters were named by Florida Politics in April 2022 as Austin Walker and Joseph Saenz.
The victims were a six-year-old biracial girl, who was in the picture with Saenz, and the other a five-year-old Hispanic girl, who was in the picture with Walker.
One of the actors was accused of ‘openly and pointedly displayed towards them a universally known and universally-used hate symbol that indicates white power,’ the lawsuit stated.
‘This white power hand signal has become openly and widely used to express hatred towards a segment of the population based upon a person’s race, color and national origin, and it has prevalently and commonly been known as a hate symbol for years.’
A second photo cited in the lawsuit shows the character making the hand gesture with a six-year-old biracial girl in February 2019. The gesture can be seen in the character’s right hand
https://youtube.com/watch?v=ZqH7_XO-pmo%3Frel%3D0%26showinfo%3D1%26hl%3Den-US
According to the Sentinel, Universal denied the allegations in court, saying their employees are well-trained and denied that they had used a hate symbol.
An attorney for the families, Lisa Riddle, told Florida Politics: ‘Clearly, these two guys either didn’t get trained on it, or they ignored it. Or their handlers didn’t get trained on it or ignored it.’
Speaking to Florida Politics in April 2022, Saenz said he was fired in September 2019.
He told the website: ‘The hand gesture, commonly known as the ‘circle game’ … was being played at the time with the attendant escorting Gru that day. It is also a common hand gesture in character performing as a sign of being OK.’
The Anti-Defamation League labeled the ‘OK’ hand gesture a form of hate speech in 2017 following its appearance on 4chan. The ADL’s report on the gesture notes that it is mostly ‘entirely innocuous and harmless.’
The gesture gained national attention in 2018 when Republican lawyer Zina Bash was accused of making symbol while sitting behind Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh during his controversial confirmation hearing.
The six-year-old biracial girl ran up to the actor dressed as Gru from one of her favorite movies ‘Despicable Me’ and asked for a picture in February 2019.
Riddle told Florida Politics in April 2022 that the lawsuit sought to ensure that Universal’s actors are properly trained and supervised in the future
The actor put his arm around the young girl and made the hand gesture above her shoulder and let it linger, according to the lawsuit.
She wanted to show the picture to her classmates but her parents told her she couldn’t because ‘a man did a bad thing to her because he did not like her because of her race and color,’ the lawsuit says.
A month later, the Gru character did the same thing in a picture with a young Hispanic girl.
The five-year-old’s family, who are Spanish speakers, said the character ignored her requests for a photo while engaging with other English-speaking guests. Eventually, the child’s father had to plead for a photo.
In both incidents, the lawsuit claims the character’s handler or the park did nothing to stop it and are responsible.
Riddle told Florida Politics in April 2022 the lawsuit sought to ensure that Universal’s actors are properly trained and supervised in the future.
In October 2019, a Universal spokesman named Tom Schroder told USA Today the actor from the Zinger family’s photo had been fired.
Schroder said: ‘We never want our guests to experience what this family did. This is not acceptable and we are sorry — and we are taking steps to make sure nothing like this happens again.’
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