Court names Universal employees making racist ‘OK’ hand gestures in 2019

A costumed character at Universal seems to flash a White Power hand sign. Image via Orange Circuit Court.

The two men behind the Felonious Gru costumes accused of making racist hand gestures when they posed for pictures with children of color were identified in court documents.

Austin Walker and Joseph Saenz made the “OK” hand symbol — a symbol for White power — contends the amended lawsuit filed this year.

With one hand, Walker made the gesture and with his other hand, he held onto a Hispanic child’s hand in a photo snapped in February 2019 at Universal Studios Florida, the suit said. Meanwhile, a month later in March 2019, Saenz posed with another little girl, who is biracial, and made the same sign at Loews Royal Pacific Resort, according to the suit.

The two men were both dressed as the Gru character from the Despicable Me franchise.

When reached for comment Wednesday, Saenz denied doing anything meant to be offensive or racist. He wrote, “The hand gesture, commonly known as the ‘circle game’ … was being played at the time with the attendant escorting Gru that day. It is also a common hand gesture in character performing as a sign of being OK.”

Saenz said he lost his job in September 2019.

Walker could not be reached for comment.

The parents of the two children are suing Universal and Loews, but Walker and Saenz, only recently identified for the first time in court documents, are not named as parties.

The families’ attorney Lisa Riddle said the lawsuit’s focus is to make sure Universal properly supervises and trains employees, so another incident doesn’t happen again. Riddle also said she is pushing to find out how updated Universal’s training policy is for hand gestures for the parks’ characters.

“Clearly, these two guys either didn’t get trained on it, or they ignored it,” Riddle said. “Or their handlers didn’t get trained on it or ignored it.”

Universal declined to comment on pending litigation and would not say if Walker and Saenz had a history of prior complaints. Riddle said she has not received their personnel files yet from Universal, only their names.

When the story made national headlines in late 2019, Universal said in a media statement, “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.”

The lawsuit described how “two young, vulnerable children gleefully and innocently ran up to meet the disguised persons during family trips to Universal Orlando-sponsored events. In display of open hatred toward the girls, the costumed persons made a White-Power hand symbol while posing for family photographs and videos taken by their unsuspecting parents.”

The girls and both sets of parents, Joel Rodriguez and Geisy Moreno as well as Tiffiney and Richard Zinger suffered emotional distress, humiliation, and other damages, the lawsuit said.

In court filings, Loews argued, “the alleged hand gesture is not offensive to an average member of the community.”

The child at the hotel “allegedly suffered damages only after her parents told her that they believed (incorrectly) that Gru’s hand symbol in the picture was a racist/White supremacist symbol. (The child’s) parents are at fault and responsible, Loews said in its response last year to the lawsuit’s allegations.

The company did not respond to a request for comment Wednesday.