[Drolefille]

Racism or concern for gang violence?
Kerasotes holds off on showing 'Stomp the Yard' here

Fearful of attracting more gang violence to its movie theaters, Springfield's Kerasotes Theatres will not open "Stomp the Yard," a film about black college students in a dancing competition.
Kerasotes Theatres' company chairman and CEO Tony Kerasotes called the decision a safety consideration in the wake of a Christmas Day shooting at the chain's Parkway Pointe location...

Kerasotes said this doesn't necessarily mean "Stomp the Yard" never will be shown at his Springfield locations.

"Usually after a week or two, the edge and interest is off quite a bit on these kinds of films, and they just don't seem to draw as rough a crowd on the first weekend," said Kerasotes, who added he might open the film locally on Jan. 19.

"My business is getting people into the movie theater and making sure they have a good time. But I don't want to subject my customers and staff to that level of risk. And I knew I'd take a lot of (flak) for it."

A fight and exchange of gunfire stemming from an alleged feud between two groups of black youths broke out during a Christmas Day screening of "Black Christmas" at Parkway Pointe. The melee apparently began in the theater before moving to the lobby and parking lot...

"The film has a very positive message, and it isn't a rough film, but it's not so much what the subject matter is as the crowd that it will draw," Kerasotes said. "We had issues in a lot of locations with 'Drumline,' which is another similarly positive film."

Just saw this article and thought I'd post it. There are a lot of comments underneath the article as well, though I haven't read through them yet.