“Fully vaccinated people, and also liars, can now go mask-free at theaters,” a headline for the AV Club read.
The much-maligned article targeted people who could potentially lie about their vaccination status and go mask-free in theaters now and “endangering the people around them.”
“If you don’t feel safe, watch something on Netflix,” Tablet Magazine’s Noam Blum tweeted in reaction.
Others were equally unforgiving.
Plenty of others, however, joined in on the AV Club’s worry and blasted theaters for moving away from mask mandates ahead of the summer blockbuster season.
“I’m never going back,” one user vowed.
“Basically means they knew I – and anyone like me – had no intention of coming back … anytime soon, anyway,” ‘Californication’ actor Evan Handler added.
Theater chains made clear through their announcements about masks that unvaccinated customers are still being asked to wear masks unless they are consuming food or beverages. Social distancing and cleaning protocols put in place to combat Covid-19 will remain in place.
If mask wearing is mandated by local governments, the theaters made clear that they will follow those rules in their establishments. Employees will remain masked.
The announcement follows the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) updating their health guidelines to state that fully vaccinated people do not need to social distance or wear masks in public.
Movie theaters across the US have slowly been reopening, many with reduced capacity limits, and many long-delayed films are finally hitting the big screens this summer, such as Disney’s ‘Cruella’ and Lionsgate’s ‘A Quiet Place: Part II,’ both of which released in time for Memorial Day weekend.
Multiple studios took part in an event entitled ‘the big screen is back’ this week, with executives, actors, and directors previewing some of the summer’s big releases at an AMC theater in Los Angeles.
“Being in a big, dark room with strangers – screaming and laughing and experiencing the power of that – is a human, natural need,” ‘Star Wars’ director JJ Abrams said at the event. “I think it’s going to come back in a pretty roaring way.”
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