One day Dora the Explorer is wandering across the globe, motivated by her child-like sense of restless exploration, guided by her talking map, and accompanied by her loyal boots-loving monkey friend, conveniently named Boots. The next, she’s all grown up and suspended for vaping in the halls of a tony Manhattan private school.
The Associated Press reports that Fatima Ptacek, the 15-year-old actress who voices Dora the Explorer, was suspended for three days in December after she was caught using a vape pen to “inhale caramel flavored water.” We find this out because of a lawsuit saying this punishment wasn’t enough. It seems that Dora has thrown over Boots in favor of an unidentified teen who is equally fond of vaping: News of Ptacket’s suspension broke after the parents of the unnamed 14-year-old girl (identified as M.S.) filed against Manhattan Avenues: The World School in the aftermath of the after-school drama.
In the lawsuit, M.S.’s parents contend that while their daughter was thrown out of school for her rebellious vaping, Ptacket’s short suspension was evidence of special treatment. “The fact that F.P. is a known actress for being the voice of Dora Explorer may have played a role in why she was ultimately not expelled even after the school threatened as much, and M.S. was expelled instead as a scapegoat,” the lawsuit contends.
M.S.’s parents also argue that their daughter has never been in trouble before, but succumbed to peer pressure because she wanted to look “cool” in front of Ptacket. It’s a sad day when Dora, once a globe-trotting preschooler who was a pillar moral rectitude, a girl who bravely stood in the way of Swiper’s swiping, has grown up to be a callously cool teen who lures the innocent with her caramel-flavored vape pens.
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