Universal Orlando is sued for $30K over photos of actor dressed as Minions villain Gru ‘flashing white supremacist “OK” sign in photos with two young girls of color’
- Two families of young girls of color sued Universal Orland for more than $30K
- They allege in the lawsuit that someone in a Disney character costume flashed the ‘OK’ white supremacy hand gesture in photos
- The Anti-Defamation League considered the ‘OK’ hand gesture a form of hate speech in 2017
- ‘He openly and pointedly displayed towards them a universally-known and universally-used hate symbol that indicates white power,’ the lawsuit says
Two families sued Universal Orlando for $30,000 after an actor dressed as the Disney character ‘Gru’ flashed a white-power hand gesture in two separate photos with young girls of color.
The lawsuit – filed in Orange County, Florida on June 23 – includes the photos from February and March 2019 with the ‘Despicable Me’ character making the ‘OK’ white-supremacist hand gesture in both photos.
One of the victims is a six-year-old biracial girl and the other victim is a five-year-old Hispanic girl.
‘He openly and pointedly displayed towards them a universally-known and universally-used hate symbol that indicates white power,’ the lawsuit says.
‘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.’
In February 2019, a five-year-old Hispanic girl wanted a picture with the ‘Despicable Me’ character Gru, who flashed the white-power ‘OK’ sign, according to the lawsuit.
In March 2019, a six-year-old biracial girl wanted a picture Gru, who flashed the white-power ‘OK’ sign again, according to the lawsuit.
The Anti-Defamation League considered the ‘OK’ hand gesture a form of hate speech in 2017.
The six year old ran up to the actor dressed as Gru from one of her favorite movies ‘Despicable Me’ and asked for a picture in February 2019.
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, ‘Gru’ did the same thing in a picture with a young Hispanic girl.
In both incidents, the lawsuit claims the character’s handler or the park did nothing to stop it and are responsible.
The lawsuit claims the character’s handler or the park did nothing to stop it and are responsible
The popular theme park didn’t disclose the actor’s name or say if it was the same person in both instances.
It’s unclear if the person or people in the costumer are still employed.
The families claim in the lawsuit that they are their children suffered ‘mental anguish, loss of dignity, loss of innocence, emotional distress, humiliation, embarrassment and loss of enjoyment of life.’
DailyMail.com emailed Universal Orlando for comment.