A group of friends from Mansfield were turned away from the cinema due to their smart clothes. The 13 year olds were attending Odeon cinema in Mansfield to watch Minions: The Rise of Gru but were told to change or they were not going to be allowed in.
The Odeon cinema currently has a rule in place banning 'formal attire' and two of the friends in the group were wearing white shirts. It comes after an online TikTok trend which sees people dress up in suits like main character Gru head to the cinema to watch the film.
Some viral videos show people taking part being disruptive during the screening and so some cinemas have banned people turning up dressed smart. Yet Matt Bingham, 46, who's son was part of the friend group finds it 'discriminative'.
Matt said: "As a parent, I can't understand why the cinema is categorising all children's behaviour as the same just because some other people ruined it. I fully understand parents and children are getting frustrated by this silly TikTok trend ruining the viewing of the film.
"But I think the cinema is managing it extremely poorly by putting a blanket ban on anybody who is slightly dressed smart even though these kids didn't look smart, some were wearing tracksuit bottoms with t-shirts on."
Matt's son Joseph and his friends had booked their screening of the film at Mansfield Odeon and arrived at 7pm on Saturday (2 July). He got a message from his son at 7:40pm saying they were not able to go in because they were too smartly dressed.
He says the group were told to go next door to buy a t-shirt or jumper for their friends in shirts so they could be let in. Matt decided to take some jumpers down for the boys and spoke to the manager about the rules.
He said: "I was a little confused because I didn't understand why you needed a dress code to go to the cinema. We had pre-booked the tickets and there was nothing on the website. When we got there, there was a sign saying about a silly TikTok trend.
"I totally agree with the cinema that if that's the case but they should be managing it on an individual basis and not targeting children with the same brush. As you can see from the photo of my son and his friends, they were not dressed up in this TikTok trend wearing suits, they were just in normal smart clothes."
Matt said that the boys were confused and a little bit shocked as they could not understand why they couldn't go in. The group ended up missing the first ten minutes of the film due to the situation.
He added: "If people are causing issues in the cinema, they should be removed but we shouldn't be putting a blanket approach on all children. Its like if I went to a football match do we ban all fans because a few people have caused issues, we don't. So why are we stigmatising all kids into the same bracket as these very immature people who go into ruin the experience for other people.
"If a group of kids come in and they are dressed in the TikTok trend I fully understand saying to them you're not coming in because you are going to do this trend. When you look at the photo of my son and his friends, they are just dressed in normal smart clothes.
"Nothing makes sense to it whatsoever. I think they are just discriminating against kids who want to go to the cinema to watch the film. They loved the film, but they missed the start of it."
A spokesperson for Odeon said: "Due to a small number of incidents in our cinemas over the weekend we have had to restrict access in some circumstances." Cineworld added: "All minions are welcome in our cinemas, but any who partake in despicable behaviour will be asked to leave if they disrupt the enjoyment of others.
"Minions looking for a truly immersive way to experience this movie might want to try out our 4DX screens instead – it’s the most exhilarating way to watch a movie.”
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