KISSIMMEE, Fla. (WFLA) — A Florida family is speaking out after a video of a toddler scared by the Easter Bunny went viral, WKMG-TV reports.
The video shows the 2-year-old Surai in shock and screaming when an Easter Bunny entered the Around the World Learning center in Kissimmee.
The toddler’s family said the video was recorded without their permission, then shared online. It now has millions of views and was even featured on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!”.
Mary Bryson-Robinson, Surai’s grandmother said day care workers did not comfort the child when she was frantic with fear. When she picked up the child last week, employees told her the child was scared of the Easter Bunny, but did not explain why.
“When we did see it [the video], it already had gone everywhere. Any place you look on the internet, my granddaughter is there,” Bryson-Robinson said. “I’m looking at just pure horror on her face, and I’m wondering, ‘How could that be on the internet for anything good?'”
“My granddaughter looked petrified. Her face changed. It was not the same child that I dropped off that day or the child that I know,” she said. “For a bunny of that size to appear, I’m sure it scared the daylights out of her.”
Bryson-Robinson claims the girl’s mother signed a form prohibiting day care workers from taking videos of her child.
The day care said they were investigating the incident, but would not comment further.
The child’s grandmother said the comments on social media have been racist, overwhelming and heartbreaking.
“People use it as a racial thing. How people can, you know – ‘Black people are that way.’ For a 2-year-old, it is just agony to go through,” Bryson-Robinson said.