‘It was to be the most expensive “shhhhhhhh” in history.
Delaware’s Supreme Court, however, ruled that when a movie theater manager asked an audience to stay quiet during Tyler Perry’s “Why Did I Get Married,” the manager was not acting on a racial impulse, reported the Hollywood Reporter.
The ruling overturned a judgment that would have awarded 23 black theatergoers $1,500 for being told to be quiet in a way seen by some to be racially charged, according to the report.
Carmike 14 Theater was told to pay nearly $80,000 for insulting, humiliating and demeaning patrons in the “minority-themed” movie, reported Delaware Online.
The outrage began one night in October 2007 when David Stewart, the theater’s white manager, told the crowd to silence cell phones before the screening.
One patron followed Stewart out of the theater and said his instructions did not sit well with some in the audience.
Juana Fuentes-Bowles, then the director of Delaware’s Human Relations Division, was in the audience and stood up and told the crowd that his remarks were racist.
Despite Stewart’s effort to assure to the audience that he did not mean to offend, Bowles’ office launched an inquiry and held a hearing….’
