Madonna Causes Scene At ’12 Years A Slave’ NYFF Premiere

You can now add texting to Madonna’s list of offenses. Let us explain — If you’re an avid movie goer you may be aware of the little film strip that plays before previews start. Usually it’s a commercial asking people to shut off their phones during a film’s run.

During film screenings no such clip plays, but it’s an unspoken rule of thumb that critics should be respectful of other critics while a film is screening. One single light of a phone can distract a film critic from doing their job, so any cell use is strictly prohibited even though it’s not said outright.

Madonna apparently didn’t get the memo, or just didn’t care as she sat down to the NYFF’s premiere of 12 Years A Slave. The film is difficult to take in because of its subject matter as 12 Years A Slave shows a man being kidnapped and sold into slavery, and his harrowing journey back.

Instead of taking in the intense film, Madonna involved herself in an already heated controversy when she decided to text throughout 12 Years A Slave. According to the source, when Madonna was told to be quiet, she didn’t miss an opportunity to work the film’s title into her catty response, having called the person “an enslaver.”

The whole incident is documented over on Indiewire but here’s a small preview of Madonna’s offense during the 12 Years A Slave screening:

“Eventually, a woman next to me tapped her on the shoulder and told her to put her phone away, and the blonde hissed back, ‘It’s for business… ENSLAVER!’ I turned to the shoulder tapper and loudly said, ‘THANKS!’ and gave her a thumbs up. The rest of the movie, I kept thinking about how I wanted to tell the blonde what a disgrace she was. we looked to the side of the theater and standing against the wall in black lace gloves was Madonna. The worst person in America.”

Although Madonna hasn’t responded to the incident, one theater did. The Alamo Drafthouse, which is a theater in Texas is heavily against texting while a film is playing. So much that the Alamo has gathered some stars for PSAs in hopes that people will stop using their phones. The Drafthouse decided to tweet about the Madonna incident having said that the singer is banned from their theater until she apologizes.

What are your thoughts on Madonna and the texting incident? Should people get away with texting in theaters?