AMC Apologizes to Disabled Civil Rights Leader Kicked Out of ‘Color Purple’ Screening
AMC Theaters has sent an apology to disabled civil rights leader Rev. Dr. William J. Barber II after he was kicked out of a screening of “The Color Purple” for using a special chair to assist with his severe arthritis.
Barber, 60, bought tickets at the AMC Fire Tower 12 in Greenville, North Carolina to see the new musical adaptation of Alice Walker’s hit novel with his 90-year-old mother. Barber suffers from ankylosing spondylitis, a painful form of chronic arthritis that prevents him from sitting down for extended periods of time and requires him to walk with two canes.
To accommodate his condition, Barber brings a special chair with him to use when speaking at various social justice rallies for voting rights and minimum wage increases, among other issues. While he placed the chair in the wheelchair section of the auditorium at AMC, management for the theater said he could not use it as it was a fire hazard.
Barber insisted that he be allowed to use the chair in accordance with the Americans with Disabilities Act and asked to see AMC’s rules regarding wheelchair accommodations in writing, but was told by management that they did not have them. Barber left the theater while trailers played after police were called to the auditorium, leaving an assistant behind to stay with his mother while he watched the film.
“My chair has been everywhere,” Barber said. “In hospitals, in restaurants, in airports, in the White House and in Congress. It’s a need that I have because I face a very debilitating arthritic condition.”
“I always look at things through the lens of, if it happened to me, it’s really not about me,” he added. “I really am worried about how many other people feel that they can’t go out, they can’t go somewhere.”
In a statement to RNS, an AMC spokesperson said that the chain’s CEO, Adam Aron, has reached out to Barber and plans to meet with him next week.
“We sincerely apologize to Bishop Barber for how he was treated, and for the frustration and inconvenience brought to him, his family, and his guests,” AMC’s statement read. “Our theatre teams work hard to accommodate guests who have needs that fall outside of the normal course of business.”
Religion News Services reported this.
The post AMC Apologizes to Disabled Civil Rights Leader Kicked Out of ‘Color Purple’ Screening appeared first on TheWrap.
