AMC apologized after theater employees had a civil rights leader removed from a screening of 'The Color Purple' by police for using a disability chair

William Barber, Founding Director, Repairers Of The Breach & The Yale Center For Public Theology And Public Policy speaks during the Clinton Global Initiative in New York. Barber was escorted by police out of a North Carolina movie theater after he insisted on using his own chair for medical reasons, prompting an apology from AMC.

Associated Press

• AMC apologized after calling police on a civil rights leader.
• Rev. William Barber refused to leave the theater after staff asked him not to use a chair for his disability.
• Barber is not facing any criminal charges, police said.

AMC apologized after police escorted a civil rights leader from a North Carolina theater because he wanted to use a special chair for his disability.

Managers at an AMC theater in Greenville, North Carolina called police on Tuesday during a showing of "The Color Purple" after Rev. William Barber II said he needed to use the chair because he suffers from ankylosing spondylitis, a disabling bone disease, according to the Associated Press.

"I know that if I cannot sit in my chair in a theater in Greenville, North Carolina .... that there are thousands of other people who will be excluded from public spaces in this nation," Barber, 60, said during a news conference on Friday.

During the news conference, Barber said he agreed to be escorted out after officers said told him they would have to close down the theater and arrest him, AP reported.

AMC did not immediately return Business Insider's request for comment on Saturday.

The company apologized to Barber and his family in a written statement provided to WRAL, a local NBC affiliate.

AMC Vice President of Corporate Communications Ryan Noonan told the outlet that CEO Adam Aron has had a phone call with Barber and plans to meet with him next week to discuss "both this situation and the good works Bishop Barber is engaged in throughout the years."

Noonan said in the statement that AMC welcomes customers with disabilities and "works hard to accommodate guests who have needs that fall outside the normal course of business."

"We encourage guests who require special seating to speak with a manager in advance to see what can best be accommodated at the theater to ensure a safe and enjoyable experience for the guest and those around them," Noonan said according to WRAL. "We are also reviewing our policies with our theater teams to help ensure situations like this do not occur again."

The Greenville Police Department also did not immediately return Insider's request for comment. But the department told the Associated Press in a statement that Barber left the theater voluntarily and he has not been charged with any crime.

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