Patrons at a movie theater in Time Square had a strange experience watching “Joker” this weekend.
With the built-up drama induced by excessive media coverage, movie-goers who saw Joker opening weekend were slightly on edge with regard to their safety. Add in a drunk fan who was reportedly cheering and clapping during Arthur’s most gruesome kills, and many ended up fleeing the AMC Empire 25 in Times Square.
Nathanael Hood, who was in the theater, told ABC News, “About halfway through when Joker started killing people and monologuing about how society is evil he started clapping really loudly and incessantly for a good minute. People started yelling for him to shut up, but he kept clapping and cheering like mad.”
“This was most likely a harmless drunk guy, but all the nervousness built around the film made what happened (Friday) night really unsettling,” Etai Benson, another moviegoer, said. Benson sat next to the man and claims to have seen him pour a full bottle alcohol into his drink at the start the movie.
Other viewers yelled at the man and told him to “shut up,” but nothing worked. As some patrons left the theater, the man spat on them as they walked by, according to Hood.
According to ABC News, a spokesman for AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc. did not reply for comment. Read the full report over at ABC News.