Madonna is officially banned from the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema.
The theater chain has a strict policy against talking and texting during movies, which now apparently applies to areas outside the theaters themselves.
Rumors surfaced that the star was frantically texting during the premiere of “12 Years a Slave” at the New York Film Festival, and when someone in the audience asked her to stop, Madonna called that person an “enslaver.”
In response, Drafthouse CEO Tim League tweeted that she would not be allowed in the company’s theaters until she “apologizes to movie fans.”
The tweet, which was originally a joke, now seems to have taken a hold and is now enforceable company policy.
Should Madonna ever wander into one of the seven Drafthouse theaters, she’ll have to take her business elsewhere.
Such a policy isn’t out of place for the Drafthouse, which regularly removes customers from the premises if they are using their phones or talking during a movie, which some find controversial.
Forbidding someone from an entire chain of movie theaters may be a bit extreme, especially if that person may have never been to one of said theaters in the first place, but it’s an extension of the company’s entire attitude toward films and etiquette — babies are only allowed in their theaters on select days.
Warnings are given to customers violating the silence policies, but repeat offenders are swiftly and decisively removed. The message is clear: The Drafthouse has made its ideal film experience and does not care about what you have going on outside their walls.
This is harsh, but it makes sense: Why would anyone pay to go to a movie and then ignore it? More importantly, someone’s lack of interest should not affect other customers, who also paid to see the movie.
What League did was to — though by accident — take this message and apply worldwide. His move empowers the honest moviegoer.
In the past, when snarky people placed their convenience over courtesy, the only thing to be done was to complain.
Now, even Madonna is not safe from the righteous fury of movie fans, her act of “unbearable rudeness” being the final straw. Of course, Madonna has almost certainly moved on with her life by now.
What does it matter to her that she is banned from an obscure Texas movie theater chain? She’s still Madonna. This was never about her anyway. League himself reiterated that at its heart, the Madonna ban is still a joke — though he loves bringing the “issue to the fore.”
And, amid the furious backlash from Madonna fans, the message in the tweets is still clear: No one, not even Madonna, can get away with being rude to moviegoers.
Anywhere.
Alec Carver is a UF journalism freshman. His column runs on Wednesdays. A version of this column ran on page 7 on 10/16/2013 under the headline "Not even Madonna is safe from wrath of movie theater rules"
