Public Service Announcement (PSA)

"Silence...!
I Kill You!"

-- Achmed, the dead terrorist
one of Jeff Dunham's puppetry characters.

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Anderson Cooper: “The next time you’re about to text in a film, remember the Alamo.”

by Dana Harris (Updated 3 hours, 26 minutes ago)

OK, one more day of Tim League/Alamo Drafthouse canonization and we’re done. Probably.

No less than CNN’s Anderson Cooper has cited Tim League as a “great American hero” for his theater’s talk-or-text-and-you-die (or at least, you’re dead to him) policy, as illustrated by the now world-famous PSA.

On Tuesday’s episode of AC360, Cooper’s “The RidicuList” segmented highlighted his own dismay with the attitude illustrated by the now-infamous Drafthouse theatergoer who left an angry voicemail expressing her fury over being kicked out for texting in the “MAGNITED STATES OF AMERICA, where yer-you are FREE to text in a THE-A-TER!”

“Texting in a dark movie theater is like lighting a road flare,” said Cooper, whose segment also featured the Alamo Drafthouse’s prior PSAs that include the likes of Will Ferrell, Michael Cera and Danny Devito exhorting patrons to be cellphone-free inside the Drafthouse. (Ferrell recommends “a light taser” for those who don’t comply, while DeVito suggests cutting out their tongues.)

Says Cooper, “I think [League] should win the Nobel Peace Prize. Next time you’re about to text in a film, remember the Alamo.”

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PREVIOUS COVERAGE:

Alamo Drafthouse Kicks Out Customer For Texting, Creates Excellent New PSA

by Dana Harris (June 6, 2011)


Alamo Drafthouse's Tim League.
The Alamo Drafthouse kicked out a patron for texting in the theater. And when the livid (former) customer left a voicemail outlining the extent of her dismay, they turned it into the best before-the-movie PSA, ever.

Per Alamo Drafthouse principal Tim League:

As many of you know, I really can’t abide people who talk during a movie. A couple of years ago I was accosted in the Village parking lot by a patron who was warned for talking in a movie. I’ve nearly come to blows more than a few times over the years with rude customers over the same issue. When we adopted our strict no talking policy back in 1997 we knew we were going to alienate some of our patrons. That was the plan. If you can’t change your behavior and be quiet (or unilluminated) during a movie, then we don’t want you at our venue. Follow our rules, or get the hell out and don’t come back until you can.

Recently, we had a situation where a customer persisted in texting in the theater despite two warnings to stop. Our policy at that point is to eject the customer without a refund, which is exactly what went down that night. Luckily, this former patron was so incensed at being kicked out, she quickly called the office and left us the raw ingredients for our latest “Don’t Talk or Text” PSA. You can check it out below, or come to the Alamo this weekend where the video will be playing before all of our R-rated movies.

Here’s the video. Audio is NSFW, so wear headphones; it’s worth the trouble.