Image: Instagram/@hippodromebway
A man in Baltimore shouted “Heil Hitler, Heil Trump!” during a “Fiddler on the Roof” performance at the Hippodrome Theatre in Baltimore, Maryland, last Nov. 14 (Nov. 15 in the Philippines) to express his contempt for the US President. As a result, he was banned permanently from entering the theater.
Anthony Derlunas, 58, was intoxicated and motivated by his contempt for President Donald Trump during the outburst. He was in the balcony, as per The Baltimore Sun on Nov. 15, when he was seen by audience member Samit Verma shouting and holding his hand up in a Nazi salute. The outburst happened during the intermission.
Another audience member, Rich Scherr, shared that Derlunas’ outburst compelled people to panic and run. “I’ll be honest, I was waiting to hear a gunshot,” Scherr was quoted as saying. “I thought, ‘Here we go.'”
“The people around me appeared to be quite shaken by the incident,” Verma said in the report. “There were some people in tears.”
Derlunas told authorities he “had been drinking heavily throughout the night” before the outburst happened.
In his defense, he said that the final scene before the intermission triggered his hatred for Trump, which caused him to shout. An officer figured that Derlunas’ true intention “was to express his dislike for President Donald Trump.”
Derlunas was eventually escorted out of the theater by the Baltimore police. They issued him a stop ticket, but did not arrest him. As per the report, stop tickets are the least severe measures authorities can take in response to complaints. Such tickets do not have fines or other penalties.
Meanwhile, the Hippodrome Theater took to its official Facebook account to release a statement regarding the incident.
“Behavior like we saw during intermission at Wednesday evening’s performance will not be tolerated,”
they wrote on Nov. 16. ” In response to last night’s events, we’ve increased security protocols for ‘Fiddler on the Roof’ beginning with this evening’s performance in order to ensure safety and security for all patrons.”
The theater said that it has a proud tradition of “providing shared experiences to people from all walks of life.”
“We intend to continue that tradition in the spirit of bringing people together. Not dividing them.”
Derlunas is now permanently banned from the Hippodrome. Cody Cepeda /ra
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