Woman banned from theme park after reportedly telling Muslim mother: 'Go back to where you came from'

Thursday, August 8, 2019
Woman banned from Sesame Place after confrontation with Muslim mother
It should have been one of the safest places to be for a young mother and her children as reported during Action News at 11 on August 8, 2019..

LANGHORNE, Pennsylvania -- It should have been one of the safest places to be for a young mother and her children.

But one guest at Sesame Place water park ruined it for others after a mother told her and another woman who was having an argument to please tone down their profanity-laced language.

Zaafirah Moore, 26, of Southwest Philadelphia says she asked the woman, "There's a million kids out here, don't use this language around the children.

"And the lady turned around to me and said, 'F me, you can go back to where you come from,'" recalled Moore.

It was at that point that Moore says she picked up her video phone and started recording the woman's outbursts.

The woman cursed at her and repeatedly made an obscene gesture.

Moore says she was with her one-year-old daughter and four-year-old son when it happened on Monday.

In the video, Moore is heard saying, "She told me to go back where I came from, wow, at Sesame Place."

The woman responds with obscenities.

At that point, a scuffle breaks out as the woman tries to stop Moore from recording her. Kids could be heard crying in the background.

In the video, Moore is heard telling the woman, "You got kids crying, it's terrible, who are you to tell me to go back where I came from."

Moore says she has never seen this woman before in her life and has no idea what she meant when she said, "Go back to where you came from."

"I would just assume because I'm Muslim and I had my garb on, maybe she thought I was from overseas somewhere," said Moore.

Moore says after the video went viral, Sesame Place did reach out to her and apologized Wednesday and said that they and Middletown police were working on trying to identify the woman.

In a statement, Sesame Place says the woman was "promptly and decisively removed from our park" and that she has been permanently banned from returning.

"I never wanted to be confrontational with her, I just wanted her to respect the environment that we're in," said Moore.