That Time When The Alamo Drafthouse Banned Madonna

It's always nice when a chain that we know and love in Texas lays the smackdown on a celebrity. Especially a celebrity who has always had a propensity for being over the top and, well, nuts.

It was 7 years ago, October 15th, 2013, when an announcement was made by Tim League, CEO of Alamo Drafthouse, that the chain was permanently banning Madonna from entering any of its locations.

Why was Madonna no longer welcome at Alamo Drafthouse? Well, in a nutshell, because she was rude. I would have also accepted the excuse 'Because she's Madonna.' Works for me...

Back in 2013, before Covid-19 and the pop band BTS infected the land, Madonna was still a very high profile music act. However, she decided to go totally 'I'm a star' at the New York Film Festival.

During a screening of the Oscar-winning film 12 Years a Slave, Madonna decided that would be the best time to engage in a long text conversation. Mind you, using text messaging isn't the worst crime in the world, but in a movie theatre, with the phone constantly lighting up and going 'PING every time she received a reply, it became a nuisance. After all, most movie theaters have a policy that you should turn off your cellphones during the show.

Finally, a customer complained, which Madonna chose to ignore, ruining the movie for them.

After the news broke, Alamo Drafthouse decided that this sort of thing was not going to happen in one of their theaters, so rather than ban cellphones, they banned Madonna. Tim League tweeted: "Until she apologizes to movie fans, Madonna is banned from watching movies at Alamo."

I don't know if Madonna has ever actually apologized and had the ban lifted, but you can't argue with Alamo Drafthouse sticking to their guns on this. If somebody was texting during a movie that I was trying to enjoy, chances are their phone would be at the bottom of a bucket of popcorn-flavored soda.

I do have to wonder, though...do they have one of those signs at every Alamo location, with her picture saying, 'Do not admit this person'? I'm pretty sure that Alex Rodriguez has one of those up at his house, though. Just sayin'.

So, the lesson here is, if you're dating Madonna, you probably can't take her to an Alamo Drafthouse. You're gonna have to hit up Applebee's with her or something.