Pepper spray confrontation at AMC reignites frustration over phone use in theaters

A man arrested for allegedly pepper-spraying a cellphone user at a movie theater has emerged as a controversial figure among moviegoers, with some branding him a “hero” and others condemning the act.

Police in Burbank, California, arrested 34-year-old Matthew Ware on Tuesday evening after he allegedly attacked another moviegoer for using their phone during a screening.

Ware was booked on suspicion of misdemeanor battery after allegedly spraying the AMC Burbank 16 patron when he became upset over their in-theater etiquette, Burbank Police Department Lt. Brent Fekety said. The spray affected two other moviegoers, who were treated for their irritation at a local hospital, according to Fekety.

Ware did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Sunday. It is unclear whether he has legal representation.

Online, the incident has become another flashpoint in the ongoing debate among die-hard moviegoers, for whom putting away a phone is a basic rule of theater etiquette.

Phone use in theaters has been a growing issue since pandemic restrictions were lifted. In recent years, as the box office rebounded into a Gen Z-driven boom, many moviegoers have lamented that the experience is now often tainted by fellow patrons’ full-volume conversations and persistent phone use.

In February, Alamo Drafthouse, an Austin, Texas-based chain that built its identity in part on a strict no-phones policy, began requiring patrons to use their smartphones to order food and drinks during screenings. The policy reversal drew swift backlash from moviegoers, who saw it as at odds with the chain’s long-standing ethos.

Last week’s pepper spray incident became social media fodder after Joe Rodriguez, who witnessed the incident, shared a post to a Reddit forum for people in the AMC A-list Stubs loyalty program.

Rodriguez’s photos of Ware being handcuffed by police inside the theater recirculated on X and Instagram. His Reddit post about what he witnessed generated so much discussion that a moderator for the forum locked new comments in the thread, stating that users have “been down every rat-hole argument there [is] to have about this incident.”

“Not cool to pepper spray,” wrote one Redditor. “Not cool to be on your phone during a movie. Both things true.”

In a phone interview on Sunday, Rodriguez said the theater was less than an hour into a showing of “The Uprising” when he heard the hissing sound of a spray bottle going off. When he turned around, a man was covering his face with his hands while yelling that he got pepper-sprayed.

“Everyone was kind of like, ‘Was that real? What just happened?’” Rodriguez said. “So I got up and I was like, ‘You know what? I’m just gonna go get like a staff member, let an employee know.’”

Rodriguez, who was sitting in the row directly ahead of where the alleged altercation took place, said he saw Ware immediately run out of the theater. He was followed by three moviegoers who appeared intent on chasing after him.

They soon found Ware lingering in the theater, and Rodriguez said he watched Ware defend himself to police during the arrest.

“The thing that stuck out the most was him saying that the guy on the phone ‘got smart’ with him, and that led me to believe that this wasn’t self-defense or anything,” Rodriguez said. “This was just a guy who was frustrated and lashed out because a guy was being rude at the movies.”

After the incident, Rodriguez said he spoke with the people who were exposed to secondhand spray in the theater. They said Ware had asked the patron he allegedly sprayed to turn off his device but that the person refused to do so.

Rodriguez said he didn’t expect the incident to drive so much discussion, particularly from those who defended the pepper-spraying. He said he believes many online are “living vicariously through” the incident.

“Because I’m sure in the moment, you want to lash out, and you’re like, ‘Oh, I want to teach this guy a lesson for being rude,’” Rodriguez said. “But ultimately what ended up happening is he kind of just ruined the movie for all those other people who got pepper spray on them, who had to go to the hospital, who had to do victim statements for people in the theater.”

As an avid moviegoer and AMC A-Lister, Rodriguez said he understands people’s growing frustration with the erosion of traditional movie theater etiquette, especially with the influx of younger moviegoers who sometimes struggle to put their phones away.

But people in Los Angeles, he said, seem to have a lower tolerance for poor manners in the theater. Perhaps, he said, it’s “kind of emblematic that this happened at the Burbank 16” — the most profitable theater in the country, frequented by entertainment industry types who take their moviegoing much more seriously.

Still, he said, the pepper-spraying was a bizarre reaction to witness.

“I deal with being behind the guy who’s on his phone, or behind the group of teenagers in the back of the theater who are constantly giggling and whispering to each other the whole movie, just being rude,” Rodriguez said. “You gotta choose your battles.”