Woman with Asperger's 'forcibly removed' from BFI for laughing during screening

A woman with Asperger’s was ‘forcibly removed’ from a screening of The Good, The Bad and The Ugly at the BFI in London on Sunday night, according to witnesses.

Tamsin Parker was celebrating her 25th birthday, and was reportedly laughing ‘very loudly’ during the film, which caused some members of the audience to complain.

Many took to Twitter to relay their experiences of the incident, one man saying that he was ‘shaking with anger’ over the Parker’s treatment.

Lloyd Shepherd said: “She’d been laughing very loudly but at moments which were supposed to be funny. Some people complained. She was dragged out shouting ‘I’m sorry I have Aspergers.’ She was incredibly upset.

“Some people applauded her being removed! Others stood up and shouted how terrible it was. A large number of us left.

“As far as I know the man who shouted ‘Shut the f••k up, b**ch’ was not removed. Despite the abusive gendered language.

“Am shaking with anger. That poor, poor woman. Just a little bit of empathy and everything would have been fine. Such naked intolerance. In the middle of London. Disgusting.”

Ms Parker’s sister Sabrina confirmed the incident.

“She’s home and watching the rest of the movie. Thank you for sharing this, as old fans of the @bfi we’re horrified that they would treat her so badly. Obviously she’s still very upset. It’s her favourite movie and it was her 25th birthday celebration,” she tweeted.

Ms Parker’s mother Lydia, a theatre director, added that she was ‘devastated and humiliated’ by her treatment.

“I received a message from my daughter that she was forcibly removed from the cinema for laughing too much and was being held in security. My husband and I came to get her ASAP,” she tweeted.

“She is recovering at home and watched the rest of the film on DVD. Her friends were amazing. She is a strong and amazing young woman.

“We had no idea people walked out. Thank you for your support. She definitely deserves at least an apology. I am concerned that she was dragged out against her will. Thank goodness she had friends with her. This has never happened to her in any cinema.”

“Thank you to everyone who has tweeted with sympathy about how the #bfi and some audience members treated my sister tonight. We’re incredibly angry, but thank you to everyone who walked out or tweeted in response, your support means a lot. @bfi you got some apologising to do,” Sabrina went on.

Yahoo Movies UK has contacted the BFI for comment.

[Updated] The BFI has now issued a statement. It reads: “We are sincerely sorry to those affected by the incident at Sunday’s screening at BFI Southbank. Our priority is for everyone to be able to enjoy our venue and we try hard to provide a good experience to our customers, however yesterday, in what was a challenging and complex situation, we got it wrong.

“We are taking this situation extremely seriously and this morning we have been investigating further to understand what happened in more depth and contacting the customers affected. We can and must do better in accommodating all the needs of our customers and we will be addressing what additional provisions and staff training we can put in place to deal with all situations with sensitivity.”

The BFI has also now confirmed that the man who was abusive during the incident was ejected from the screening.

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