Black father accuses Chuck E. Cheese mascot of ignoring his daughter

An African-American dad has accused Chuck E Cheese of racism, saying one of the chain’s mascots ‘ignored’ his child and hugged white kids instead.

Damon Payne was at Chuck E. Cheese on Monday to celebrate his daughter Dynver’s thirds birthday. 

He recorded footage of her meeting the restaurant’s iconic mouse character at an outlet in Metairie, New Orleans.

Damon Payne was at Chuck E. Cheese on Monday to celebrate his three-year-old daughter Dynver’s birthday. But he claimed she was ignored by the Mouse mascot at the restaurant 

Payne recorded video of her meeting the mouse, which shows her standing up and looking at Chuck E with her arms outstretched.  

He is seen waving and embracing other children as little Dynver stands not knowing what to do. Her father says, ‘go in front of him, go ahead.’ 

She then puts her arms up to hug the mouse but the instead the worker turns to hug other children. 

Damon can be heard saying: ‘You don’t see her?’ 

‘She’s right there,’ he adds. 

He then says: ‘You saw that right?’ to a person stood next to him.

The mouse can be seen standing as the child looks at the character in the play area while the father repeatedly says ‘You don’t see her?’

Payne uploaded a short clip of the video to his Instagram page with the caption: ‘MY KIDS WILL NEVER STEP FOOT BACK IN Chuck E Cheeses. #racismdoesn’tcarewhat age. 

‘Please do me a favor share this and tag anybody with power she didn’t deserve that. That’s at the one in Metairie.’

Payne recorded video of her meeting the mouse, which shows her standing up and looking at the character

 The little girl puts  her arms up to hug the mouse character but the worker instead he turns to hug other children

WDSU reported that Payne informed the manager of the employee’s behavior and showed the manager the video. 

The manager reportedly offered the family 50 free tickets to redeem at the store’s shop – an offer the father claimed was insulting. 

Payne said another manager got in touch with him on Tuesday and said it is company policy that the character should not engage in contact with any child – and instead wait for the child to approach.   

Chuck E. Cheese could not be reached by DailyMail.com for a comment. 

But the company issued a statement to WDSU, saying: ‘Our cast members are trained not to initiate physical contact with the children – in case they are afraid of Chuck E. 

‘We want to assure our guests that we take great measures to protect the experience all children and families have in our restaurants.’

She tried to get the attention of the mouse but while the worker looked at her, she wasn’t given a hug 

Chuck E. Cheese said its cast members are trained not to initiate physical contact with the children- in case they are afraid of Chuck E

The video was shared by Payne on his Instagram and Facebook accounts. It has so far received 76,000 views on Instagram.  

One Instgram user wrote: ‘Chuckie isn’t allowed to go up and hug random kids thats creepy…but the kids ARE allowed to go up and hug him that’s when he Is allowed to hug back or high five or whatever that little cutie shoulda ran up and hugged him like the rest.’

Other social media users agree with Payne that the incident was racist and claimed that the employee should have been fired.

One person named Deneen Harris wrote on Facebook: ‘The manager was notified and nothing was done. 

‘This is a child and should not be overlooked because of some bigot in a costume. Chuck E Cheese is about and for the kids. Address it and remove whomever it is in the costume.’