Civil rights leader speaks out on AMC theater seating incident

Civil rights leader Rev. William Barber II spoke out in a press conference Friday after a Dec. 26 incident at an AMC theater in Greensville, North Carolina.

Civil rights leader Rev. William Barber II spoke out in a press conference Friday after a Dec. 26 incident at an AMC theater in Greenville, North Carolina, in which he says he was escorted out of the theater.

Barber, a prominent activist in North Carolina who led the state's large NAACP chapter for years, said he suffers from ankylosing spondylitis, an inflammatory disease that has prompted him to use a different type of chair to ease his pain.

He said he brought his own chair to the movie theater to watch "The Color Purple" with his 90-year-old mother. He said he placed it in a section specifically designated for guests with disabilities, which prompted safety concerns from theater employees.

According to Barber, he was threatened with trespassing charges when he refused to leave and was escorted out by local police officers.

"Our plans were interrupted when the managers of the AMC theater here in Greenville chose to call the police rather than accommodate my visible disability," said Barber.