(UPDATE: 4:12pm 6/19/2020 - Caving to backlash, AMC Theatres announced late Friday that they will require moviegoers to wear masks in theaters, reversing their previous policy. Original story below.)
As if the economy and the general public's mental health haven't been devastated enough in recent months, the COVID police have a new target in mind: movie theaters.
You know, those things you can visit where you sit with a bunch of strangers and watch a moving picture that tells a story? Or at least, where you used to be able to go, before the government shut them down for our own safety and SJWs started telling us what movies we can watch in the first place.
But I digress.
Now, Twitter users-turned-health experts are trying to cancel AMC Theaters, a company that’s already been pushed to the brink of bankruptcy, because the theater says they won’t require customers to wear a face mask in states that aren't requiring one by legal mandate.
AMC President Adam Aron defended the decision Thursday, saying that all AMC employees will be screened, have their temperature taken, and are required to wear masks in the 75 percent of AMC theaters that are set to reopen on July 15. He also said he’ll be wearing a mask and that many of his theaters’ customers will be, too, but that he thinks it’s “counterproductive” to force what should be a personal choice on customers who may object.
“We did not want to be drawn into a political controversy,” AMC CEO and President Adam Aron told Variety on Thursday. “We thought it might be counterproductive if we forced mask wearing on those people who believe strongly that it is not necessary. We think that the vast majority of AMC guests will be wearing masks. When I go to an AMC feature, I will certainly be wearing a mask and leading by example.”
Because why would a company that’s already struggling to rebound from months of forced shutdowns not be OK with alienating a huge segment of their customer base by forcing them to smother themselves while trying to eat popcorn? I know, it just makes no sense at all.
Brendan Hodges, a film critic for Metaplex, called the company “buffoons and cowards” for not mandating masks.
AMC joins Cinemark & Regal by not mandating masks for guests. They say its a “political issue.”
— Brendan Hodges (@metaplexmovies) June 18, 2020
They are baffoons and cowards at the expense of public health. I understand they need concession revenue, but there’s no excuse they can’t be mandatory entering/exiting.
Fuck them. pic.twitter.com/qu0MT0qkGY
Joe Biden’s campaign spokesperson Symone Sanders said she’s even canceling her AMC membership over the decision.
Canceling my AMC membership because there isn’t anything political about wearing a mask. It’s just a GOOD PUBLIC HEALTH PRACTICE THAT WILL HELP SAVE LIVES! https://t.co/il1UiegMro
— Symone D. Sanders (@SymoneDSanders) June 19, 2020