A man has filed a lawsuit against the Museum of Ice Cream in New York City over injuries he said he suffered after jumping into its famous “sprinkle pool” last year.
Jeremy Shorr said he was visiting the museum in SoHo with his daughter on March 31, 2023, when he jumped into its sprinkle pool, a large ball pit full of oversized plastic sprinkles and broke his ankle.
According to the lawsuit filed on Aug. 7, the incident resulted in “severe and permanent personal injuries” and required extensive surgery. Shorr says his ankle may require future surgeries, physical therapy, and diagnostic testing.
In the complaint, Shorr accuses the museum of negligence in failing to properly warn visitors of the dangers associated with jumping into the sprinkle pool while encouraging people to do so in its promotion and advertising materials.
The lawsuit includes a 2019 post on the museum’s Instagram account showing the sprinkle pool and asking prospective customers if they are “ready to jump in.”
According to Shorr’s lawsuit, all of this creates “the reasonable—but false—expectation that the Sprinkle Pool is fit and safe for that activity.”
He is seeking unspecified damages to cover his medical and legal expenses.
A section of the museum’s website dedicated to the sprinkles ball pit encourages visitors to “Dive into fun with our iconic sprinkle pool!” Photos of children and adults show them playing in the pool, which may be a foot deep.
The museum’s pink sprinkles pool room has not only a slide but also three diving boards, about a foot off the ground and perhaps two feet above the sprinkles’ surface.
The museum’s visually otherworldly, colourful interior, which opened in 2016, quickly became popular on social media. However, it appears Shorr isn’t the first alleged victim of the diving pool—although possibly the first with serious injuries—as others have reported surprisingly hard touchdowns when landing into the pool of sprinkles.
In August last year, a young lady amassed three million views after she shared a clip of her painful landing after jumping into the sprinkles pool from one of the diving boards.
“I wasn’t expecting it to hurt so much,” she wrote.
Another social media user said she sprained her leg after jumping into the sprinkle pool. “The ice cream factory gave us a free ticket to go back if we wanted and a gift bag,” she added.
A spokesperson told NTD that the museum has decided not to comment on the matter for now.
The Museum of Ice Cream was founded in 2016 by Maryellis Bunn, then 24. The concept—ice cream-themed installations and all-you-can-eat ice cream—proved an instant hit that spurred a flurry of copycats. By 2020, the Museum of Ice Cream was valued at $200 million. It has also locations in Austin, Boston, Chicago, Miami, and Singapore.
The Associated Press contributed to this article.