Dora the Explorer is a huge hit for Nickelodeon. Still courtesy of Nick Jr.
Summary: Parents accuse the Dora the Explorer voice actress of peer-pressuring their daughter into vaping.
When Dora the Explorer says “Come on, vamanos” don’t go with her to the bathroom to vape. At least that’s what one teenager allegedly did, and now her parents are suing.
Buzzfeed reports that parents Nadia Leonelli and Fredrik Sundwall, filed a lawsuit after their 14-year-old daughter, M.S. was expelled from Avenues: the World School, an elite private school in Manhattan. In the suit, they claim actress Fatima Ptacek, 15, convinced their daughter to vape in the restroom of their high school, which led to a suspension for Ptacek and an expulsion for M.S.
Fatima Ptacek. Photo courtesy of Buzzfeed.
Ptacek has been the voice of Dora the Explorer on the eponymous hit kids show since 2012. While not named specifically in the suit, she is referred to as the “voice of Dora the Explorer.”
The parents said a senior at the school tattled on the girls, who weren’t using drugs but were vaping caramel-flavored water. When school officials confronted the girls, it was reported that they denied it because they were scared. The parents said that later M.S. confessed to vaping because she wanted to seem “cool” to the glamorous actress and celebrity. (Oh, man. Teen standards for “celebrity” and “cool” seem pretty low.)
Both girls ended up confessing like they were on an episode of Law and Order. Ptacek was suspended for three days, but M.S. was expelled. School officials said the differing punishments were because M.S. was “untrustworthy” but didn’t elaborate further. Unsatisfied with the perceived special treatment, the parents sued the school, asking for their daughter to be reinstated and for $40,000 in damages.
Source: Buzzfeed