AMC Theatres Apologizes After Group Racially Profiled During ‘Harriet’ Screening

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November 29, 2019

By Monique Jones, shadowandact.com

Black theatergoers were racially profiled at a Louisiana AMC movie theater during a screening of Harriet.

According to Variety and WDSU 6 News, 15 members of a Black women’s nonprofit organization, 504 Queens, were profiled during a Nov. 7 viewing of the film at AMC Clearview Palace 12 in Metairie. The group’s lawyer claimed in a letter that the screening was disturbed at various points during the screening by three different employees, including a kitchen staff member. The women were requested “to confirm their ticket purchases and seating assignments.”

Cynthia Erivo as Harriet Tubman in the 2019 film Harriet

The lawyer’s letter goes on to say that one of the employees stopped the film and turned the lights on, “prompting other people attending the movie to demand one of the 504 Queens members exit the screening.”

One group member said to WDSU, “You mean to tell me a kitchen employee can stop a movie, and also, turn on all the lights to embarrass me? And to be aggressive with me in that manner? It was like the 1800s coming back to my face in 2019.”

Group members went to the theater’s management to describe what took place, and according to the lawyer’s letter, management offered the women free tickets to a film. However, the theater ended up refunding the group’s money after they said they no longer wanted to watch films at that theater location because of what they experienced…

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