A teenager's Sweet 16 birthday party was cut short recently when she and her family were kicked out of a Universal Studios theme park in Orlando, Fla. The reason? Her father's T-shirt.
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According to WPTV, a local news station in West Palm Beach, Fla., on Aug. 24, Christian Jarosz, his wife, Diana, their daughter, Sabrina, and her friend were stopped by security while they were headed to the Blue Man Group show inside the theme park. "They kicked me out because of my T-shirt," Christian told WPTV.
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The shirt in question: a navy blue T with the word "Police" and underneath, "Street Crime Unit." Christian is not a police officer, but his brother, a New York cop, had given him the shirt as a gift. Although Christian says he has previously worn the shirt to Disney World as well as to other theme parks, officers stopped him to say he could not wear the shirt in the park.
The family asked to see the policy in writing and questioned the order. They also offered to have the security officers follow them to Billabong, a clothing store inside the park, so they could buy another T-shirt. However, more security officers showed up and told Christian not to bother buying another shirt because he needed to leave the park.
photo: NBC 5
The family left the park, and although they were refunded the $500 they spent on tickets for Blue Man Group, they say they won't return to Universal Studios. "They even threatened to arrest us. That really terrified me. I run a school! I've never done anything against the law," Diana told WPTV.
Yahoo Shine could not reach the Jarosz family for comment and a rep from Universal Studios did not return Yahoo Shine's email; however, a spokesperson for Universal Studios Florida emailed the following statement to WPTV: "The only people we allow in our parks with shirts or other clothing that might identify them as police officers are working law enforcement personnel. This is for everyone's safety and to avoid confusion by our guests. And while we don't discuss specific guest situations, I can tell you it is our practice to clearly explain policy decisions to our guests — and it is not our practice to ask guests to leave our theme parks simply because they ask us questions. I'd invite these guests to contact us if they'd like to have a conversation about what happened."
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