Universal Studios Fires Back at Couple Suing Over Beetlejuice Character Allegedly Throwing Up White Power Hand Gesture in Front of Black Child
Oct. 18 2023, Published 5:00 a.m. ET
Lawyers for Universal Studios Hollywood are fighting back against one family’s claim an employee dressed as Beetlejuice threw up a white power gesture in front of a minor child.
According to court documents obtained by RadarOnline.com, Universal City Studios, which owns Universal Studios, has responded to the lawsuit filed by John and Marisol McGee.
As RadarOnline.com first reported, earlier this year, the duo sued Universal Studios Hollywood, on behalf of themselves and a minor named John McGee, after the encounter with an employee dressed up as Michael Keaton’s character from the 1988 film.
The family said they are of African-American and Latin-American descent.
The family claimed they visited the theme park on July 18, 2021. They said an employee dressed as Beetlejuice was standing near the main entrance greeting visitors.
“Plaintiffs, who were fans of the Beetlejuice film, stopped to take a picture with defendant “Beetlejuice Doe.” Plaintiff Marisol McGee, a Latin-American woman, posed for the picture with defendant “Beetlejuice Doe” while plaintiff John McGee, an African-American man, took the picture and plaintiff Dylan McGee, a mixed-race minor boy, watched,” the suit read.
Michael Keaton as Beetlejuice
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“In the picture, defendant “Beetlejuice Doe” displayed the racist, offensive White Power hand gesture,” the family claimed in the bombshell lawsuit.
A lawyer for the family explained the “White Power” hand gesture is a "symbol used to express hatred towards a segment of the population based upon a person's race, ethnicity, color, and national origin.
The suit accused the defendants of intentional infliction of emotional distress. The McGee family said they suffered, “anguish, fright, horror, nervousness, grief, anxiety, worry, shock, humiliation, and shame” as a result of the incident at the theme park.
The family blamed Universal Studios of being negligent in hiring employees.
In the newly filed response, a lawyer for Universal Studios argued the hand gesture the Beetlejuice character was most likely just a gesture to signify “okay” and was not a racist attack.
“Assuming arguendo for the purpose of this demurrer that a Universal Studios Beetlejuice character did make an “okay” gesture in a photo opportunity with the Plaintiffs, it is equally plausible (and indeed more likely) that such a gesture was intended as a traditional “okay” gesture that has been in common usage in American culture for decades if not centuries,” the lawyer wrote.
“Tellingly, Plaintiffs do not include in their Complaint the photograph in which the Beetlejuice character is making such a gesture, nor do they allege any objective facts supporting that, even if made, the gesture was made as a white power symbol or with an otherwise racially derogatory meaning,” the lawyer added.
A judge has yet to rule.