AMC Theatres took swift action and is still continuing to make amends after a group of women accused staffers there of humiliating them during a screening of Harriet in Metairie, La. earlier this month.
According to WDSU, three employees were fired following the incident, after 15 members of the nonprofit 504 Queens, say they were racially profiled.
A letter sent to AMC by the group’s lawyer detailed how two different workers and a kitchen staff member approached the group over a dispute about tickets. The employees repeatedly questioned the validity of one of the women’s tickets, even though the woman in question, 65-year-old Sandra Gordon, showed them that she was in the right seat several times, NOLA.com reports.
The incident escalated to such a point where one of the employees actually stopped the two-hour movie and turned on the lights in the middle of the film, placing the 504 Queens members under the scrutiny of the crowd, who turned around to demand that one of the members leave.
“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,” Gordon told WDSU.
In addition to firing the employees, AMC Theatres offered a written apology and also said that it would give away up to 20,000 free tickets for high school students in Orleans and Jefferson parishes to watch the movie.
The theater chain also said that it would create a training video for all employees, and vowed to donate money from black Friday ticket and concession sales to 504 Queens for its holiday meals program, NOLA.com reports.