National Review columnist Kevin Williamson is so fed up with people using their cell phones during the theater-going experience that he physically removed a woman's phone from her hands and threw it across a New York theater.
Here's how it all went down.
The play was high brow — "Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet of 1812" — but the audience apparently was not.
"The main offenders were two parties of women of a certain age, the sad sort with too much makeup and too-high heels, and insufficient attention span for following a two-hour musical," Williamson writes in his post "Theater Night: Vigilantes 1, Vulgarians 0."
When one particular woman "with too much makeup" refused to get off her phone after Williamson and his date had kindly asked her to turn it off, she suggested he mind his own business.
Here's what happened next, writes Williamson:
So I minded my own business by utilizing my famously feline agility to deftly snatch the phone out of her hand and toss it across the room, where it would do no more damage. She slapped me and stormed away to seek managerial succor. Eventually, I was visited by a black-suited agent of order, who asked whether he might have a word.
In a civilized world, I would have received a commendation of some sort. To the theater-going public of New York — nay, the the world – I say: “You’re welcome.”
Williamson ends his post with this funny bit: "There is talk of criminal charges. I will keep you updated."
After tweeting about the incident, Williamson has received tons of positive feedback:
@kevinnr Tonight I put aside our ideological differences to stand with you unreservedly.
— Kevin Drum (@kdrum) May 16, 2013
Free @kevinnr! One hardy soul fights back against the menace of cellphone usage in theaters. nationalreview.com/node/348453 via @#
— Kyle Smith (@rkylesmith) May 16, 2013
@kevinnr put who ruin movies/musicals/play with selfish antics should have buckets of water dumped on their heads. I stand with you.
— Buck Sexton (@BuckSexton) May 16, 2013
This man did what the rest of us mere mortals only dream of.RT @kevinnr: Why I was thrown out of a theater tonight: nationalreview.com/corner/348453/…
— Mike O'Connor (@mmoaks14) May 16, 2013
The hero Gotham deserves. RT @kevinnr Why I was thrown out of a theater tonight: nationalreview.com/corner/348453/…
— Brian Patrick Eha (@brianeha) May 16, 2013
@seattle_d @kevinnr Now THIS is a reason to award the Nobel prize.I want to shake your hand, Sir.
— Keith (@Houstonrufus) May 16, 2013
@kevinnr I applaud you for the phone incident. However, you don't have to retweet every reply praising you. I want to throw you off Twitter!
— Alan C (@ac_awesome) May 16, 2013
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