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Audience Members 'Flee' Cinema During Joker Screening Following Man's Disruptive Behaviour

Audience Members 'Flee' Cinema During Joker Screening Following Man's Disruptive Behaviour

The incident saw ‘a third of the audience’ leave the theatre at AMC Empire 25 near New York's Times Square​, according to reports on Twitter

Jess Hardiman

Jess Hardiman

A man at a cinema in America was reportedly escorted out by security during a screening of Joker after he began loudly cheering and clapping every time a character was killed on screen - prompting fears among the audience that he would 'start hurting people'.

The incident saw 'a third of the audience' leave the theatre at AMC Empire 25 near New York's Times Square, according to reports on Twitter.

One cinemagoer named Nathanael Hood tweeted a picture of the man who was allegedly removed from the screening, writing: "This is the guy who spent our entire screening of JOKER in NYC spitting at people and clapping whenever Joker killed somebody.

"Security escorted him out after a third of the audience fled the theater out of fear that he'd start hurting people."

Another cinemagoer tweeted saying the man had been sat next to him, saying he saw him pour a full bottle of tequila into his Slushee before the film started. He added: "S*** was scary - like a 4-D movie experience."

Twitter

Hood also said a fellow audience member had 'calmly confronted' the man and managed to de-escalate the situation until security arrived.

He continued: "Coming out everybody was shaking his hand and calling him a hero. I asked for his name and he said 'V for Vegas'.

"Not all heroes wear capes, folks."

The vigilante appeared to be referencing the character V from V For Vendetta, an anarchist freedom fighter who tackles injustice.

In a blog post that went into more detail, Hood referred to the alleged troublemaker as a 'lone thirtysomething white man', who had 'snuck a bottle of tequila into the theatre' and was 'stone-cold drunk'.

Warner Bros.

Hood wrote: "When Joaquin Phoenix's mentally tortured clown-for-hire Arthur Fleck had fully assumed his newfound Joker persona, he began clapping and cheering wildly whenever he killed someone or ranted about society.

"It wasn't the applause itself that was disturbing; Phillip's deliberate class-based provocations against the rich and powerful were so effective that during an earlier scene when Arthur killed three businessmen who attacked him on the subway, the entire audience whooped its approval.

"But this man kept clapping when Arthur - now fully the Joker - and his army of clown-faced vigilantes began killing innocent people and he continued clapping long after the carnage ended."

He explained people in the audience started shouting at him to shut up, while others tried talking to him.

Eventually, a 'good third of the audience' fled the theatre. Hood said they were 'visibly disturbed by his belligerence'.

LADbible has reached out to AMC Theatres for comment.

Featured Image Credit: Warner Bros

Topics: Entertainment, TV and Film, Joker