Rev. Dr. William J. Barber II Sues AMC Theaters For Alleged Disability Discrimination

Rev. Dr. William J. Barber II filed a lawsuit against AMC Theaters on Thursday, accusing the company of disability discrimination.

A respected minister, civil rights activist, and theology professor out of North Carolina is suing AMC Theaters for being escorted out of the Greenville location last year on claims his special wheelchair was a fire hazard.

Rev. Dr. William J. Barber II took his 90-year-old mother to the movies the day after Christmas last year to see The Color Purple but never got to see the film after theater staff had him removed, WITN reports. In his suit, Barber claims he was discriminated against due to his wheelchair, which is used for a severe spinal condition.

“He was embarrassed, defamed, accused of committing a crime, and subject to a horrific injustice by employees at the AMC theater,” his attorney, Harry Daniels, said during a Dec. 19 press conference.

“Seeing that movie at that time is an experience that I’ll never be able to give to her,” Barber said.

Barber, who uses a wheelchair due to his diagnosis of ankylosing spondylitis—a form of arthritis that causes inflammation in the spine’s joints and ligaments—believes his disability led to police being called to forcibly remove him from the theater. He claims the experience violated the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).

“I said to them I can’t leave. My gut, my heart, my character, my commitment to justice will not allow me to leave this space when I know legally and morally I have a right to it,” Barber said.

Barber, a former North Carolina NAACP President and civil rights activist, revealed that he met with AMC’s chairman and CEO just days after the incident. While he is not seeking personal financial gain from the lawsuit, he is requesting damages exceeding $25,000 on two counts of mental and emotional distress.

The founding director of the Center for Public Theology & Public Policy at Yale Divinity School also aims to bring justice to others who may have experienced discrimination due to their disabilities. He is seeking a preliminary injunction to prevent AMC from barring him from bringing his wheelchair to any of its locations and to prohibit retaliation against him or others for exercising their rights.

“Whatever your disability is, you may be disabled, but you are not deficient,” Barber said. “You are as much a part of this human family as anybody else.”

AMC issued a formal apology to Barber at the time of the incident and a promise to review “our policies with our theater teams to help ensure that situations like this do not occur again.”

“We sincerely apologize to Bishop Barber for how he was treated and for the frustration and inconvenience brought to him, his family, and his guests,” a spokesperson for AMC Theaters told Religion News Service, as cited by Deadline.