A Fort Worth movie theater allegedly stopped showing a pro-LGBTQ video after theater patrons and parents complained about their children being exposed to mature topics without their consent.
The video from Noovie called Noovie Celebrates Pride 2023 discusses how the character M3GAN from the January horror film of the same name is a “queer movie icon.”
“Her pre-kill dance is very Ru Paul’s Drag Race with its flare,” says Amir Yass in the video. Yass describes himself as a “queer Muslim unicorn.”
Several Fort Worth parents expressed discontent with this video being shown before films aimed at younger audiences, according to Texas Scorecard.
LD Plemons said he took his sons to see Transformers: Rise of the Beasts at Cinemark Rave Ridgmar 13 and was caught off guard by this video, which he claimed was “LGBTQ propaganda.”
“Once in the theater, it’s announced to get your drinks and snacks ready, because up next is movie previews you don’t want to miss! Then, bam! LGBTQ propaganda in our faces,” Plemons told Texas Scorecard. “It happened so fast, I couldn’t even get out of our seats fast enough to get us out of there. I felt tricked. I thought I covered all the bases to protect my children from being exposed to this.”
“I never dreamed they would play a video like that during ‘Transformers,’ which is targeted to kids and families,” he continued. “This was an intentional, planted scheme by the way it was set up announcing movie previews and getting this instead.”
Plemons’ wife, Hollie, added that her friend saw The Little Mermaid in June and the same video was played before that screening.
Hollie said she called Cinemark to complain.
Plemons said she spoke with a representative from Noovie who claimed to be unaware of the video but would look into it, according to Texas Scorecard.
The video was pulled from the theater just days after Plemons made a public social media post criticizing the theater for playing this video and encouraging others to contact Cinemark and complain.
However, theater management told The Dallas Express they never received any complaints about the video and do not actually control the content that plays before a film.
“Noovie is an ad company that is licensed out in front of Cinemark [movies] and they play ads for 15-20 minutes before the showtime starts,” said Joe Dyer, the location’s senior manager. “We don’t actually have any control over what Noovie content plays before a movie.”
Dyer said he remembered seeing this video play before a movie but was unaware it was no longer running.
“I haven’t heard anything about backlash,” he continued. “We definitely haven’t had anyone talk to us about it. … Nobody’s spoken with management here.”
The Dallas Express also contacted Noovie and Cinemark’s public relations department for comment but received no response from either by press time.