AMC Theaters apologizes for civil rights leader removed from theaters

AMC Theaters has apologized to Rev. William J. Barber II, a civil rights leader, after he was escorted from a theater in Greenville, NC, after employees refused to allow him to use a seat he needed to attend a ceremony. treat a painful medical condition. said.

Mr. Barber, 60, attended a screening of “The Color Purple” on Tuesday afternoon with his mother, Eleanor Barber, 90. He said he tried to use the chair, which an assistant carried for him, by placing it in a reserved area places. for handicapped seating, and said he had done this before in theaters, at Broadway plays and even while visiting the White House.

He said a theater employee told him he wouldn’t be able to use the chair, which looks like a small stool, because it didn’t meet American with Disabilities Act guidelines.

Employees then called Greenville police and told officers they wanted Mr. Barber to leave or face trespassing charges, according to Mr. Barber, who shared video of the encounter with The New York Times.

Mr. Barber said he agreed to leave the theater and that no charges were filed. The video shows a police officer escorting him out of the cinema, thanking him for his cooperation and apologizing “for the way this turned out.”

His mother stayed and watched the movie with an assistant, he said.

“I just wanted to go to the movies with my mom,” Mr. Barber said.

In a statement to a local news station, the AMC theater chain said it “sincerely apologizes to Bishop Barber for the way he was treated, and for the frustration and inconvenience caused to him, his family and his guests.”

Both the statement and Mr. Barber said that AMC CEO Adam Aron had spoken with Mr. Barber by phone and that the two planned to meet in Greenville next week.

Neither AMC Theaters nor the Greenville Police Department responded to requests for comment.

Mr. Barber has a condition called ankylosing spondylitisand walks slowly with the help of a cane. He said the disease attacks his joints “like a guided missile” and has left him living with chronic pain for nearly 40 years. “I describe it that way because it’s a war to live with it,” he said.

He added that people with disabilities often face invisible struggles that are difficult for people without disabilities to understand.

“People with disabilities have the right to appear,” Mr Barber said. “Period of time.”

Mr Barber said he was grateful that Mr Aron had immediately reached out and apologized, and that he looked forward to their meeting.

“I’ve had very positive conversations with him and with the police chief,” he said, adding that he didn’t believe police even wanted to be involved.

Maria Town, president and chief executive of the American Association of People with Disabilities, an organization that advocates for the rights of people with disabilities, said she found the theater staff’s response “simply mind-boggling.”

“People with disabilities face so much discrimination every day,” Ms Town said. “They encounter so many types of physical barriers that should not exist under the law.”

The Americans with Disabilities Act, signed in 1990, is a civil rights law that prohibits discrimination in several areas and requires widespread accommodations in public places. “And that’s what movie theaters are,” Ms. Town said.

Mr. Barber rose to national prominence in the 2010s after leading protests against a North Carolina voter ID law that was later struck down by a federal appeals court. knocked downcalled it an unconstitutional attempt to “target African Americans with almost surgical precision.”

Mr. Barber, a former head of the NAACP in North Carolina, is a fixture at rallies, marches and civil disobedience actions. He said he has been allowed to use his chair in numerous theaters and other places, including in prison after being arrested at demonstrations.