America’s largest theater chain abandons plans for ‘texting friendly’ theaters after people freaked out

Earlier this week, there were rumblings that AMC theater executives were playing with the idea of introducing special theaters in which patrons would be allowed to text on their phones during movies.

Today, AMC CEO Adam Aron posted a lengthy explanation-cum-apology, assuring the understandably outraged internet that his company had promptly given up on the idea.

“With your advice in hand, there will be NO TEXTING ALLOWED in any of the auditoriums at AMC Theatres,” Aron wrote in a public letter posted to Twitter. “Not today, not tomorrow, and not in the foreseeable future.”

Aron’s letter is a sharp turn from his justification for the texting theaters he made to Variety just days ago.

“When you tell a 22-year-old to turn off the phone, don’t ruin the movie, they hear please cut off your left arm above the elbow,” Aron insisted to Variety. “You can’t tell a 22-year-old to turn off their cellphone. That’s not how they live their life.”