“I cannot go out in good conscience,” Barber responded in the video. The recording shows the police officers walking behind and alongside Barber as he slowly exited the theater, a cane in each hand.
Ryan Noonan, a spokesperson for AMC Theatres, told RNS on Wednesday, “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.” Noonan said that AMC’s chairman and CEO, Adam Aron, had contacted Barber and plans to meet with him next week.
Noonan also made clear that AMC welcomes people with disabilities. “Our theatre teams work hard to accommodate guests who have needs that fall outside of the normal course of business,” he added.
“This is not the ancient world, where people who are sick are pushed to the side and told, ‘You can’t participate,’” Barber told RNS. “With our laws, you have to make the accommodation.”
The Americans with Disabilities Act requires businesses to provide people with disabilities an equal opportunity to access their services or goods.
Barber declined to discuss whether he would be pursuing legal action. But he insisted that the important takeaway wasn’t that this happened to him—but that it could happen to anyone with disabilities.
“I always look at things through the lens of, if it happened to me, it’s really not about me,” he said. “I really am worried about how many other people feel that they can’t go out, they can’t go somewhere.”
This article originally appeared here.
