A California movie theater dropped showings of Daily Wire host Matt Walsh’s new film ‘Am I Racist?’ after it said a “strong reaction” from the community prompted “safety” concerns.
The Del Oro Theatre in Grass Valley announced on Thursday that it would be canceling showings of Am I Racist?, which opened on Friday in over 1,500 theaters across the country, after community backlash.
“Due to the strong reactions from our community (for and against the film), and concerns for the well-being of our staff, we will not be playing the film ‘Am I Racist?’ as originally intended,” the theater posted on Instagram.
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The cancellation of the showings prompted immediate backlash online from conservatives who said the theater had caved to leftist pressure.
Am I Racist? Is In Theaters NOW — Get Your Tickets Here!
“Wow. Left wing activists are now bullying small movie theaters like Del Oro Theatre in Grass Valley, CA into dropping [Matt Walsh’s] new ‘Am I Racist?’ film. Another theatre owner told me that they’ve been told small theaters like this are being targeted with threats from left wing activists,” conservative activist Robby Starbuck posted on X.
“The left is terrified of this film because it’s not only hilarious but it’s effective at dismantling their dangerous ideology,” he added. “We need to pack the theaters with sold out showings to make this movie even bigger.”
Wow. Left wing activists are now bullying small movie theaters like Del Oro Theatre in Grass Valley, CA into dropping @MattWalshBlog’s new “Am I Racist?” film.
Another theatre owner told me that they’ve been told small theaters like this are being targeted with threats from left… pic.twitter.com/7X4Z1Fk3ZQ
— Robby Starbuck (@robbystarbuck) September 13, 2024
In response to Starbuck’s post, Walsh urged conservatives to go out and see his film.
“As reported by [Robby Starbuck], left wing activists are bullying theaters into dropping our film. This theater just issued an apology,” he posted. “The only way to stop the Left from shutting down the film is to support the theaters that are showing it. Tickets here: http://AmIRacist.com.”
Conservative account Libs of TikTok weighed in on the cancellation as well, criticizing the theater for caving to pressure.
“A theater in California canceled their showing of ‘Am I Racist?’ after leftwing activists bullied them. They caved to the pressure and are now claiming the movie causes ‘division’ and can harm their staff. Cowards!” she said.
The theater said it was not its intention to “cause such division” by playing the film and was just trying to follow the lead of other theaters.
“Please know that it was not our intention to cause such division by playing this film,” it added. “We noticed that many of the theaters in the Sacramento area were booked to play this film and quite frankly the reaction caught us off guard. The safety of our staff is our number one priority.”
