Michigan Man Starts Petition To Cancel Statewide Screenings Of 'Fifty Shades'
WYOMING, Mich (WWJ) -- An online petition has been started to cancel the showing of an erotic movie coming out in theaters next month.
Bondage and sadism are just some of the themes in the movie adaptation of the book "Fifty Shades of Grey" coming out in theaters on Valentine's Day.
But Scott Ruth of Wyoming in western Michigan says the film is inappropriate for such a public venue, so he's put together an online petition on Change.org to cancel the showing at all Celebration Cinemas in the state.
"We want to just keep giving people the opportunity to combine their voices and maybe -- at some point -- we'll start to have so many voices that Celebration Cinema can't deny or ignore that fact that people, who are local and who are customers, are upset with what's on the menu," Ruth said.
Ruth says the film has content which glamorizes and romanticizes sexual abuse and pornography, and is inappropriate for the venue.
"We don't argue that Celebration Cinemas doesn't have the right to show whatever they want -- this petition is not about censorship at all," Ruth said. "What it's about is people having grave concerns about the material, for its pornographic reasons and the themes of BDSM -- which is bondage, discipline, dominance, submission, sadism and masochism -- those themes are inappropriate for a public theater that serves a wide audience of viewers."
Ruth said that the cinema has not guaranteed to cancel the showing if they get the 5,000 signatures, but said that they're still going to make their voices heard.
