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A local mom in a group waiting in line at the Willowbrook Mall with her children shared the incident on Facebook, igniting a social media clash between people who were outraged and others who defended the teen in the bunny suit.
Mall spokeswoman Lindsay Kahn told Daily Voice that the employee was pretending to sleep as part of a playful game in which she has kids try to wake her.
"She has been a great Easter Bunny and engaging with the kids," Kahn said.
"She was not sleeping, passed out or intoxicated. These reports are false."
A colleague offered a different explanation, however: She told Daily Voice that the bunny was a 17-year-old girl who was dehydrated.
"Take it from me, one of the actual bunnies, that it is extremely hot in there and sometimes you are in excruciating pain due to how heavy the suit is," Aysha Hood said (SEE PHOTO ABOVE).
"Sometimes we need a moment to readjust or keep my dehydration in there," Hood said.
Last week, a Jersey Shore woman dressed as the Easter Bunny was hospitalized after passing out in a hot costume at a mall in Toms River.
One mom said she was heartbroken last Sunday when she saw the same Willowbrook Mall bunny given water through a straw as "not to break character."
The original social media complaint came from a mom who suggested that the bunny may have been intoxicated. Even when she was awake, the mom said, the bunny barely moved.
The mom has since removed her post after being berated in comments for assuming the bunny was under the influence.
** Click here for Daily Voice's original report on the incident. **
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