In March of 2019, Tiffany Zinger took her 6 year old daughter to Universal Studios theme park in Orlando, FL for what they hoped would be a memorable family vacation. “We just wanted to take them to see the Minions, do something special for our family,” she said. At first, their vacation was everything they had hoped for. During their visit, they enjoyed a character meet and greet breakfast, where the young girl was excited to see Gru, the main character from one of her favorite movies, Despicable Me. What happened next truly was despicable. The two posed together for a photo, with Gru resting his hand on her shoulder, but it wasn’t until later when her daughter brought a printed screenshot of the visit to the school for a show and tell that they realized their fun, family vacation picture had been ruined. Zinger’s daughter was not allowed to show the photo due to the actor in the Gru costume displaying a widely known white supremacy symbol with his hand while posing with the girl, who is biracial.

Zinger said her daughter was humiliated upon learning what had happened and why she couldn’t share her photo with the class. Zinger herself was enraged that what should have been her little girl’s memory of their fun time together had been ruined by a symbol of hatred, one that was clearly directed toward her family. Unfortunately, what happened to Zinger and her daughter was not an isolated incident. In February of that year, another photo surfaced of this same actor posing with another little girl, who is also biracial. This second photo also included the white supremacist hand gesture made by the actor. Both families are suing Universal Studios for damages including emotional distress, humiliation, loss of dignity, and mental anguish. They are seeking $30,000 in damages to their children’s mental health and well being.

While Universal Studios has not disclosed the name of the actor, they did release a statement saying that he has been fired. When asked about the incident, a spokesperson for the park 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. We can’t discuss specifics about this incident, but we can confirm that the actor no longer works here.” While firing the offending actor is a clear step in the right direction, it remains unclear what additional measures they are taking to ensure this claim is valid and that the affected guests are compensated for their distress. The families affected by this incident are not satisfied, and the lawsuit between the families and Universal Studios is still pending.