Family accuses water park of racism after teens’ pool party cancelled

A man has accused a water park of racism after it abruptly cancelled his teenage sons’ party when staff felt “uncomfortable” by the almost 500-person group.

A US father has accused a Kansas City water park of racism after his teenage sons’ party was abruptly cancelled when a reported 500 people arrived and staff felt “uncomfortable”.

Chris Evans, the father of two teen YouTubers reportedly with an online following of more than 60,000, said his family paid about $US2000 ($A2800) about a month ago to host a large birthday party at Summit Waves, a popular park in Lee’s Summit, Missouri.

But when the family arrived on Saturday, pool managers reportedly wouldn’t allow them inside the gates, Fox News reports.

Video shared on TikTok showed a park official and a police officer standing by a small crowd.

The father asks why the gathering made them uncomfortable before a family member interrupted and said, “because we’re black”, at least three times.

A group of teenage boys were rejected from a water park as they allegedly made staff ‘uncomfortable’. Picture: TikTok

“If this was a large group of white folks, there wouldn’t be a problem,” the family member is heard telling the employee, who shakes her head as the park denies the allegations.

On Monday, Lee’s Summit Parks and Recreation said that it cancelled a teen party rental on Saturday because it “became aware of social media posts advertising the event”.

Parks and Recreation officials said the family also promoted the event on social media despite the contract stating that would not happen, according to the Daily Mail.

“This raised serious concerns about the safety of party guests and the possibility the event would grow beyond the capacity of staff,” Summit Waves administrator Joe Snook said in a statement.

“After multiple attempts to reach the renter in advance of the event to discuss safety concerns, a connection was not made until the hours leading up to the event. At that point, the only recourse was to cancel the event.”

The parents had booked to have their son’s birthday at the venue and could be seen confronting a staffer about the cancellation on Saturday. Picture: TikTok

Chris Evans and his wife (left) signed a $US2000 contract to host 250 people, but officials said it failed to properly prepare and that it was ‘uncomfortable’ with an alleged crowd of 500 people. Picture: TikTok

The park claims approximately 500 teens arrived in the Summit Waves car park, with the park having a size capacity limit of 600.

But Mr Evans claimed the event was cancelled before the teenagers arrived and there was “never anything close to 500 kids in the parking lot”.

The Evans family has since retained a lawyer, FOX 4 reported.

“I was just in disbelief that this was happening,” the teens’ mother, LeyShon Evans, told KSHB, explaining the party was for sons Noah, 15, and Isaiah, 17.

At a news conference on Tuesday, Mr Evans said his family was told “this event doesn’t represent Lee’s Summit Waves” and that his reservation was cancelled because a park official was “uncomfortable”.

“My kids were heartbroken that the party was cancelled,” he said at the conference.

“They are good kids who make good grades, have bright futures and do not deserve to be treated like this. And that goes for all the kids at the park that day.

“It appears to have been cancelled simply because the park staff was uncomfortable with a group of black teenagers having a pool party to enjoy the end of the summer.”

The incident comes after Sesame Street’s theme park copped accusations of racism after two young black girls were snubbed by character Rosita.

The statement from the water park read: “Safety pertaining to the anticipated crowd size and the potential impact it might have on party guests and the staff was the sole reason for the cancellation.”

Lee’s Summit Parks and Recreation Department, which operates the water park, said in a statement issued on Tuesday that it apologised to the Evans family because of miscommunication and missed processes that led to the cancellation.

The department said it would review its rental processes, including communication, and improve training to align with the city’s diversity and inclusion efforts.

“A sincere apology is owed to the Evans family and our Lee’s Summit community,” the statement read.

“LSPR strives to be a respectful and inclusive organisation where all members of our community feel welcome and appreciated.

“Inappropriate language, social media posts and behaviour are not acceptable and will not be tolerated.”

The incident comes after Sesame Street’s theme park recently copped backlash following accusations of racism.

A viral video showed an employee dressed up as the character Rosita snubbing two black girls at the Pennsylvania theme park.

Defenders of the Sesame Street establishment said the incident may have been an unintentional one-off, but several other clips have surfaced showing similarly problematic behaviour, the New York Post reports.

The videos – several of which were recorded by other black visitors to the Pennsylvania park – were shared by the popular Instagram account frobabies, which posed the question: “Is this a pattern?”

One heartbreaking video shows an excited black boy being ignored by an employee dressed up as Sesame Street’s Rosita – the same character who snubbed the black girls in the original viral clip.

A separate clip shows the character Honker aggressively walking up to a black toddler before pushing her to the ground.