Christian Jarosz says he and his family were thrown out of Universal Studios because of the t-shirt he was wearing.
The shirt, which has the word “police” spelled out on the back in big letters, and “Street Crime Unit” underneath, was a gift from his brother, a New York police officer.
“I’ve worn the shirt to Disney and other theme parks. I didn’t even think about it when I put it on,” Jarosz told WPTV.
Security officers at Universal Studios stopped him and his family when they were en route to see the Blue Man Group for his daughter’s 16th birthday.
Jarosz questioned the policy of not being able to wear the shirt but then said he would go to a nearby store to get a different one and return.
“We wanted to get to the show. This was about our daughter’s birthday. So we were like... follow us and we'll go to Billabong and buy a shirt. We got inside and I picked out a shirt for him,” Christian’s wife Diana Jarosz said.
But then more security officers showed up.
“They said don’t bother buying another shirt, ‘you guys are out of here.’ I was like ‘what are you talking about? I’m buying the shirt right now!’ He said... ‘don’t buy it. You guys are out of here,’ ” Jarosz said.
Universal Studios Orlando said in a statement that “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,” in order to avoid confusion. The spokesman that emailed the statement to WPTV said that although it’s policy to explain decisions clearly to guests, it is not practice to ask guests to leave theme parks simply because they ask questions.
The Jarosz family says they won’t visit the park again. They were refunded their money they spent on Blue Man Group tickets.
