An actor dressed as the "Despicable Me" character Gru flashed a white power symbol while posing for photos with biracial children.
An actor dressed as the "Despicable Me" character Gru flashed a white power symbol while posing for photos with biracial children.
Two families are suing Universal Orlando after an actor dressed as the character Gru from "Despicable Me" used a white power gesture while posing for photos with bi-racial children.
The lawsuit, filed on behalf of the 5 and 6-year-old girls in the photos, alleges they suffered humiliation and mental anguishfrom the separate incidents at the theme park in Orlando.
One incident occurred in March 2019, where the 6-year-old met the character at a breakfast hosted at Universal's Loews Royal Pacific Resort.
As she posed for a photo with the actor, he placed his hand on her shoulder while making the upside down "OK" symbol, a hate symbol used by white supremacists.
"He put his hand on her as if he was just doing it regularly, and as I was looking at the camera, he started to put the universal white supremacist hate sign on her shoulder," her mother, Tiffiney Zinger, previously told USA Today.
"We just wanted to take them to see the Minions, do something special for our family, and this person ruined that special warm feeling," she said.
An actor dressed as the "Despicable Me" character Gru flashed a white power symbol while posing for photos with biracial children.
According to the lawsuit, the child then printed a photo of the moment and took it to school for a class project - but was humiliated when she was told she couldn't use it in class because of the hand gesture.
The character also made the same hand gesture with a 5-year-old girl in February 2019.
The suit alleges that the incidents left the girls suffering from mental anguish, loss of dignity, humiliation, embarrassment and other emotional distress — and their families are seeking $30,000 in damages, WKMG reported.
Universal Orlando Resort said it fired the actor.
"We never want our guests to experience what this family did," a spokesman told USA Today. "This is not acceptable and we are sorry — and we are taking steps to make sure nothing like this happens again.
"We can't discuss specifics about this incident, but we can confirm that the actor no longer works here."
