Movie theatre chain AMC has apologized to a North Carolina civil rights leader after he was kicked out of a screening of The Color Purple for trying to use his own chair in the disabled section.
The Rev William Barber, a former president of the NAACP North Carolina chapter, who suffers from a form of arthritis known as ankylosing spondylitis and walks with two canes, said that he tried to use a special chair he brought to an AMC Cineplex in Greenville on Tuesday afternoon and was told by staff he couldn’t.
Barber, 60, later told CNN that he has a medical condition that makes it impossible to sit in a regular chair. Barber shared a video of the incident that showed a stool-type chair with a backrest and no arms. (Barber has written for the Guardian.)
AMC kicks out it’s one paying customer that day, repeatedly he did not purchase the more expensive uncomfortable recliner option with his ticket.