Three AMC employees were fired for racially profiling a group of women during a showing of Harriet at a theater in Metairie, Louisiana. 

Fifteen members of the New Orleans women empowerment nonprofit 504 Queens were approached by two staffers and a kitchen staff member about their tickets. Despite purchasing designated seats for the showing, staffers repeatedly asked them to verify their ticket purchases and seats. The incident escalated with one employee stopping the movie, turning on the lights and questioning group member Sandra Gordon, demanding she leaves. 

“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. 

Other patrons were shocked at how the women were being treated, reports NOLA.com. 

“I was shocked. [The employee] was all in that woman's face,” said Brandon Mayo. “Some people yelled, ‘Take her out of here,’ as if she had done something to make them cut the movie off.”

After the encounter, the women approached management. They were offered free tickets for another day, but the theater ultimately gave the group refunds after the women said they had no intention of returning. 

The day after the incident, the women contacted their lawyer who sent a letter to AMC explaining their experience along with eight demands. Among their demands were free tickets for high school students to screenings of Harriet, mandatory anti-racism and anti-oppression training for all employees, movie passes to 504 Queens members to take young girls in their mentor programs to movies and more. 

AMC’s Senior Vice President and General Counselor Kevin Connor issued a written apology to 504 Queens. 

“We apologize for the several missteps and misunderstandings on behalf of our management and film crew that evening, to the serious and justified disappointment of the women you represent,” the statement reads.

He also honored the eight demands, including the termination of the three employees. He called the requests “healing actions”.  

AMC pledged 200,000 tickets for high school students in Orleans and Jefferson parishes. The company also said they would donate money from their Black Friday ticket sales to the organization’s holiday meal program, as per the initial letter.