The 15-year-old actress who voices the cartoon character Dora the Explorer has been accused of peer pressuring her classmate into vaping, leading to the classmate's expulsion, BuzzFeed reports. Actress Fatima Ptacek wasn't directly named in the lawsuit filed by her classmate's parents against the high school, but was identified by being referred to as "the voice of Dora the Explorer."
The classmate, identified only as M.S., attended the elite Manhattan high school Avenues: The World School and was allegedly caught vaping caramel-flavored water in the school bathroom with Ptacek, the New York Post reports. Both girls are said to have confessed to vaping after at first denying it; Ptacek was reportedly suspended for three days, but M.S. was expelled for being "untrustworthy." According to reports, the classmate's parents think their daughter is being blamed as a "scapegoat" and that Ptacek got off lightly for being a celebrity.
The parents want their daughter to be readmitted to the school, and are seeking $40,000 in damages. "[M.S. did it] because [Ptacek] is older than M.S. and is a celebrity, being the actress who does the voice of Dora the Explorer on television and having a movie nominated for the Oscars," the lawsuit argues.
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Neither a representative for Ptacek or Avenues: The World School has commented on the incident.
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