Alamo Drafthouse responds to new allegations of racism, sexism

Alamo Drafthouse, the Texas-based theater chain that has long been besieged by insecurity claims, is now the subject of a new, extensive exhibition at Kansas City weekly The Pitch. The story accuses a litany of abuse committed by both the management at the chain’s locations in Kansas City and copper brass within the company. These include sexual harassment and abuse, racist attitudes towards customers, unsafe (and often illegal) work environments, and even stories about ticket sales that are lacking to add to Drafthouse’s own coffers.

Alamo has 41 locations in 10 states. Theater facilities include food and beverage in-theater, specialized programming to complement broad releases from studios, and its signature rules for audience control (that is, not talking during movies). The Kansas City location is one of Alamo’s core business cinemas, rather than a franchisee.

In September 2017, IndieWire reported on allegations of sexual assault and harassment of five women against former employee Alamo Drafthouse and founder Harry Knowles of Ain’t It Cool News. Further reports, including a report on Splinter’s deep dive in 2018, shared more stories of a company that has been accused for many years of allegations of sexual assault and harassment, made against both patrons and employees, for many years.

The Pitch reports that despite promises from co-founder Tim League, who began a listening tour of various locations in the wake of the 2017 allegations, not much has changed within the company. More than 30 current and former employees of Alamo Drafthouse, of the KC location and of the Alamo Drafthouse company, contributed to the story, which includes accusations both before and after 2017.

The new story focuses on the experiences at the Kansas City Mainstreet location and in a number of cases, alleged victims say that company was warned of problems. These allegations include allegations that managers sexually and physically abused employees and were never disciplined; employees who were injured on the job and were never properly accommodated; and reports that managers primarily targeted Black audiences in enforcing the ‘no talking’ rule.

The Pitch story also claims that the location would be involved in “canceling ticket sales to shorten the commitments of certain movies at their theater (provide a better release for a new movie next week), and the money from that movie in ‘ to keep the company’s pockets. “

In early April, the company announced the hiring of a new CEO in former Starbucks executive Shelli Taylor, who recently served as president of United Planet Fitness Partners. Former CEO League became the chain’s executive chairman. An Alamo Drafthouse employee confirmed to IndieWire that as part of the ongoing process to address the culture issues at the company, Taylor was tapped as CEO and is restructuring management and executive teams.

The Pitch article shares parts of an email the new CEO sent to the chain’s staff on July 24, which increased support for employees through a variety of means; Alamo Drafthouse provided the email to IndieWire and we fully share it below.

Fan: Shelli Taylor
Date: Friday, July 24, 2020 at 4:34 p.m.
Subject: a message from my heart

The uncertainty of the past four months has led to bills and difficult conversations within industry, organizations, and companies around the world. As many of you are aware, this includes the cinema industry, and it also includes our company.

At the same time, over the past few weeks we have seen some current, furloughed and former teammates talk about their experiences at the company in public, via social media, and it is deeply disturbing and challenging. We do not know the details or timeline of many of these accusations – some seem to be recent, while others seem to date many years. Likewise, they are painful stories of disappointment, frustration, and failure within our culture. We may not have been aware of some of these accounts, some of them may not have been handled properly, but nevertheless, we would like to hear your story and encourage you to come forward and report abuse to the People Department by email to send to people @ drafthouse. com or call (877) 892-2193.

I wanted to take this opportunity to make it very clear – there is no place for abuse or harassment of any kind at Alamo Drafthouse.

To everyone who has been a victim while working for Alamo Drafthouse – I’m so sorry, and I promise things will change. People who violate our code of conduct and engage in this type of behavior must and will be held accountable.

I am aware that since 2017 we have taken steps in dealing with workplace behavior, but we still need to do more. Investing in our people and promoting a safe, healthy environment is my number one priority. I have spent 20 years of my career at companies like Starbucks and Disney and they have helped shape my leadership priorities in this area. If we can evolve our culture, we can do extraordinary things together and Alamo Drafthouse will reappear from this pandemic stronger and with even greater purpose.

While most of us hide on site near our homes, my number one priority is to get back to work to make sure you all return to a safe and welcoming work environment. An environment similar to what our guests experience and love about Alamo Drafthouse, and what excited me about becoming CEO a few months ago.

I wanted to outline additional concrete actions we are taking to restore our culture and ensure that we all return to work in the best possible work environment:

• For the past 90 days, I have been engaged in one-on-one meetings and round tables, as well as displaying Workday pulse surveys and individual comments from Workify to hear everyone’s stories, hopes and expectations with the intention. of synthesizing feedback in a comprehensive workplace culture strategy going forward. I’m excited to continue these surveys and conversations as our locations can record and record all of your feedback. These findings will then inform how we can strengthen and improve reporting structures.

• We work with a leading workplace culture consultant, specializing in organizational development and change, to develop an outreach plan for our healthcare solution process designed to improve counter-level communication, which will also include training for managerial coaching and healthcare solutions at the local level.

• At the same time, we are setting up a one-stop helpline that brings all our communication channels to one helpline that will also help us to track data, and learn from trends.

Alamo Drafthouse will have to implement its changes with significantly fewer staff. On March 16, Alamo announced that it would outsource 80 percent of its business staff and almost all members of theater staff because it closed 40 locations. In early July, the chain moved into full-scale layoffs, with one source estimating that more than 80 employees were left on the business side alone, not with staff such as projectionists, event managers, or local theater managers. The story of it today claims that many Kansas City employees were offered a $ 500 divorce and an NDA that many refused to sign.

Read the full story at The Pitch.

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