{"id":1237,"date":"2016-04-20T16:29:16","date_gmt":"2016-04-20T16:29:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/saintgeorgelaw.com\/?p=1237"},"modified":"2021-10-21T10:18:43","modified_gmt":"2021-10-21T10:18:43","slug":"utah-threatens-liquor-permit-of-theater-showing-deadpool","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/saintgeorgelaw.com\/utah-threatens-liquor-permit-of-theater-showing-deadpool\/","title":{"rendered":"Utah Threatens Liquor Permit Of Theater Showing \u2018Deadpool\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

Utah alcohol bosses have filed a complaint and will consider revoking the liquor license of a movie theater it says violated a state obscenity law by serving drinks while screening \u201cDeadpool,\u201d which features simulated sex scenes.<\/p>\n

The theater said the law is unconstitutional and has threatened to challenge it in court if the complaint isn\u2019t dropped.<\/p>\n

Rocky Anderson, an attorney for Brewvies in Salt Lake City, said Monday the law violates free-speech rights and is so broadly written that even a movie featuring Michelangelo\u2019s nude \u201cDavid\u201d sculpture would be banned if alcohol was served at a screening.<\/p>\n

Utah\u2019s Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control filed the complaint against Brewvies after three undercover state officers attended a screening of \u201cDeadpool\u201d in February.<\/p>\n

Investigators cited a state obscenity law that is generally used to regulate alcohol and nudity at strip clubs, which are required to have dancers wearing G-strings and pasties if the club serves liquor.<\/p>\n

The law also bans the showing of any film with sex acts or simulated sex acts, full-frontal nudity or the \u201ccaressing\u201d of breasts of buttocks. It only applies to businesses with liquor licenses, so most Utah movie theaters, which are alcohol-free, are not cited under the law.<\/p>\n

Brewvies, which has been open since 1997, only allows people 21 and older to attend movies and serves food and liquor to customers.<\/p>\n

The DABC has scheduled a meeting in May to discuss or possibly settle the complaint before further disciplinary action.<\/p>\n

The agency\u2019s Vickie Ashby had no comment Monday and said she could not speak to the next steps in the disciplinary process. She directed questions to the attorney general\u2019s office and State Bureau of Investigation, which ran the undercover investigation.<\/p>\n

Dan Burton, a spokesman for the Utah attorney general\u2019s office, declined to comment. The State Bureau of Investigation looked into the matter after the DABC sent it a complaint, according to Marissa Villasenor, a spokeswoman for Utah\u2019s Department of Public Safety, which oversees the investigative bureau.<\/p>\n

Anderson said he\u2019ll challenge the law in court unless the complaint is dropped and Utah stops enforcing the obscenity law. Anderson said his client should also be repaid for a $1,627 fine the theater paid five years ago when it was cited under the same law for showing \u201cThe Hangover Part II.\u201d<\/p>\n

Anderson, who provided a copy of the investigative report to The Associated Press, said the fact that the film can be shown at other theaters nearby makes it clear Utah officials are using liquor laws to limit First Amendment rights of free speech.<\/p>\n

Anderson said the Utah law is similar to an Idaho measure that lawmakers repealed this year after a theater sued after its liquor license was threatened for showing \u201cFifty Shades of Grey\u201d while serving alcohol.<\/p>\n

Source: http:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/entertainment\/2016\/04\/19\/utah-threatens-liquor-permit-theater-showing-deadpool\/<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Utah alcohol bosses have filed a complaint and will consider revoking the liquor license of a movie theater it says violated a state obscenity law by serving drinks while screening \u201cDeadpool,\u201d which features simulated sex scenes. The theater said the law is unconstitutional and has threatened to challenge it in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/saintgeorgelaw.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1237"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/saintgeorgelaw.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/saintgeorgelaw.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saintgeorgelaw.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saintgeorgelaw.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1237"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/saintgeorgelaw.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1237\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2198,"href":"https:\/\/saintgeorgelaw.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1237\/revisions\/2198"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/saintgeorgelaw.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1237"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saintgeorgelaw.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1237"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saintgeorgelaw.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1237"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}