Emotions are running high as Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker enters theaters to end the nine-film Skywalker Saga. For some fans in Vancouver, the wait was delayed a bit as a man exploded over phone use in the theater. You may watch and think this self-described "real Star Wars fan" has a point. However, the man was also accused of punching the guy next to him in the face for checking his phone, and that's why the police got called to the theater. But what toxic fandom, right?
A man named Joe Bond told Global News he and his wife were at a 7:30 screening of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker as their first date night since their second child was born. Trouble started early when a man seemed aggressive, to Bond, when asking staff how to find his seat. That man ended up sitting next to Bond and his wife. Bond said the guy yelled at another movie patron who had taken out their phone to tape the opening credits. (Good for the angry man on this point, to be honest.) Bond felt the man's wrath when the film started and he felt his own phone buzz in his pocket. He thought he was getting a call from their babysitter, so he checked, saw that it wasn't the babysitter, and put his phone back.
But the angry man lost it and started yelling. Bond told him to calm down but instead "he hit me in the face." Vancouver police were called to deal with "an allegedly unprovoked assault" but he was gone by the time they got there. The Cineplex had already thrown him out, and those employees deserve a raise for what they put up with.
The people in the theater were just pissed off that the angry guy made such a fuss that their showing got delayed. The angry man in question -- who was wearing a suit, for some reason, as you can see in the video below -- faced the audience and yelled at them as they chanted and pointed for him to get out.
Turn your phones OFF. Use your fucking heads. Welcome to the 21st century. You fucking losers with your fucking phones. I waited a goddamn year for this, so some asshole can turn his phone on next to me?!
The poor theater employees looked like they weren't sure what to do, but they eventually led him out of the theater. The whole audience cheered as he was finally led away.
Watch the madness, as taped in the theater (another thing you shouldn't do, except in this case):
Who knew Canadians could get so heated? Normally the anger is directed toward the people who use their phones in a movie theater. This time, though, the tables turned on this one guy. Yes, cell phone use in movie theaters is obnoxious. But to punch someone over it? The emperor has already won again. And so the man who was mad about a disturbance in The Force was the one to disturb it the most. #Balance
The Star Wars fandom is known to be passionate, and The Rise of Skywalker is already earning polarizing reactions. But it's making a lot of money and getting people talking and, no matter what, we still have The Mandalorian on Disney+, so I'm good. How 'bout you?
