A man who claims to have fractured his ankle by jumping into the sprinkle pool at the New York City location of the Museum of Ice Cream has filed a lawsuit contending that the museum was “reckless, careless and negligent” in its operation of the facility.

The plaintiff, Jeremy Shorr, was visiting the Soho museum with his daughter on March 31, 2023, when he suffered “severe and permanent personal injuries,” according to a lawsuit filed in state court in Manhattan on August 7.

The museum’s 25,000-square-foot flagship location has drawn hundreds of thousands of visitors since opening in 2019 with playful, Instagram-ready installations that include a pink subway car, a milkshake lounge, and a sprinkle pool, similar to a ball-pit filled with oversized plastic sprinkles.

The lawsuit claims the museum creates the “reasonable—but false—expectation that the Sprinkle Pool is fit and safe” for people to jump into, adding that the pool doesn’t have enough sprinkles and isn’t deep enough. This expectation is set, the lawsuit noted, by the museum’s own website and social media posts which encourages visitors to “PLAY in the world-famous sprinkle pool” and asks prospective customers: “have you taken the plunge yet?”

The Museum of Ice Cream declined to comment for this story.

 

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The case also makes note of previous incidents involving the sprinkle pool in which visitors have suffered injury.

This includes a TikTok video from Aug 12, 2023, in which a woman alleged to have ended up on crutches after spraining her leg “pretty badly”—she was compensated with a free ticket for the Museum of Ice Cream and a gift bag. Also mentioned is a news story from December 2021, in which the sprinkle pool “knocked the wind out of” a woman after an attempted cannonball jump.

@link0rix Welp free operator i guess 😭 AND DONT ASK WHY I JUMPED IN KNOWING IM LIKE TALLER THAN THAT POOL #fyp #foryoupage #icecream #icecreammuseum #vozdoscriadores #screammovie ♬ original sound – Linkorix 🫶🌸

The result, the lawsuit stated, is that the museum is “placing its own financial interest over the safety of the general public.”

The plaintiff said the sprinkle pool incident left him with injuries that have required surgery and has caused “mental anguish and distress.” It also noted Shorr being unable to perform job and vocational duties as previously. Future surgeries, together with physical therapy and diagnostic testing may be required in the future. The plaintiff is seeking unspecified damages to cover medical and legal expenses.

Shorr’s attorney was reached for comment but did not respond by press time.

The Museum of Ice Cream operates four locations in the U.S. and faced accusations of a negative workplace environment in 2020.