Mothers who were out to watch an evening showing of "Bad Moms" in a theater in Fort Myers, Florida ended up leaving after one of them was told to cover up while breastfeeding her baby. Another issue was that some of the mothers brought children with them to watch the R-rated film.
"That ultimatum," said Juliana Valverde, the mother who was breastfeeding, as per KTLA. "The employee was like 'You can either cover up or you can leave.' I was just, at that point, I was so hurt and walked away. Tears came down, added Valverde.
Mothers angered after breastfeeding woman told to cover up at Regal movie theater in Florida https://t.co/tNGpU6LVNs
— KTLA (@KTLA) August 1, 2016
News-Press reported that Valverde was part of a group of 50 women, some with children, who wanted to watch Bad Moms in the Regal Movie theater. However Regal's policy forbids children under the age of six from viewing R-rated movies, even if a parent is around to accompany them in the process.
"They were outside dealing with the manager trying to get things squared away," said Amber Cebull, one of the mothers in the group, as quoted in the report. After the discussion between the mothers and the Regal movie theater manager, the manager was unrelenting to bend their policy. It was the manager who reportedly asked Valverde to cover up while breastfeeding her baby.
According to a report from the NBC, the group of mothers planned the movie night out through a Facebook event. Most of the women bought their movie tickets pre-sale but Cebull was quoted as saying that they were not told that children under the age of six were barred from watching R-rated movie. The mothers were waching the 7:45 p.m. screening but it turned out that "no children younger than 6 may attend an R-rated movie after 6 p.m."
"We had breast-feeding moms with infants, one 4 weeks and one 7 months, and they refused them entry," said Cebull, as per the report. Lawyer Daniel Garza told NBC that no one can stop mothers from breastfeeding but it needs to be determined if Valverde was asked to leave because of the underage children policy of the theater or for her breastfeeding.
