AMC Theatre Calls Police on Disabled Civil Rights Leader Over Accommodations
A disabled civil rights leader was escorted out of an AMC theater in Greenville, North Carolina, by police over his disability accommodations earlier this week.
On Tuesday, Rev. William J. Barber II, 60, and his 90-year-old mother went to see The Color Purple at the theater. Barber, who has a rare form of arthritis known as ankylosing spondylitis, brought his own chair to the theater because the disease makes it difficult for him to sit in or rise from low chairs.
Barber said he placed his chair in a section for guests with disabilities, but theater employees deemed it a “fire hazard”. He explained, “Our plans were interrupted when the managers of the AMC theater here in Greenville chose to call the police rather than accommodate my visible disability.”
According to NBC News, a Greenville police supervisor arrived at the theater after receiving a call about trespassing and a patron who was “arguing with employees, and they wished to have them removed from the business. During the press conference, Barber emphasized how using words like “arguing” and “trespassing” to describe a Black man “could have had bad results in the wrong hands.”
Barber agreed to leave the theater after being asked to by the officer, and was seen shaking the officer’s hand as he left the building. The chief of the Greenville Police Department reached out to Barber asking to meet him and talk about the situation, Barber said during the press conference. The department did not immediately respond to HuffPost’s request for comment.
AMC apologized to Barber on Wednesday and said it plans to review its policies to “ensure that situations like this do not occur again.” “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,” the statement read.
Barber said during the press conference he forgave AMC Theatres and will not be pressing charges. He also has plans to meet with AMC Chairman and CEO Adam Aron next week in Greenville to discuss the situation.
“As the 2024 presidential race heats up, the very foundations of our democracy are at stake. A vibrant democracy is impossible without well-informed citizens. This is why HuffPost’s journalism is free for everyone, not just those who can afford expensive paywalls,” the article concludes.