SALT LAKE CITY -- "Deadpool" star Ryan Reynolds tweeted his support for Salt Lake City movie theater Brewvies, over the weekend.
As FOX 13 first reported, Utah’s Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control has threatened to take action against Brewvies for showing the movie “Deadpool.” Brewvies is accused of violating a state law that forbids the serving of alcoholic drinks and showing nudity or certain sex acts (and DABC investigators claim “Deadpool” has plenty of both).
Reynolds sarcastically tweeted this from his verified Twitter account: “Thank god they’ve found a way to legislate fun.”
The tweet has been retweeted more than 3,400 times, and received more than 12,000 likes. It also had an indirect link to FOX 13 News’ coverage of the story last week.
“Simply because alcohol is involved the DABC and the legislature thinks that they can infringe upon people's First Amendment right, it's just wrong,” said Brewvies attorney Rocky Anderson said.
Reynolds did more than tweet. Brewvies manager said Reynolds donated $5,000 to Brewvies’ Go Fund Me page to help pay for its attorney’s fees to Anderson.
“It doesn't surprise me that the star of “Deadpool,” the movie that's at issue here, heard about it and sent them $5,000,” Anderson said.
Anderson wants the DABC to stop enforcing what he calls an unconstitutional statute, not allowing alcohol to be served during sex-activities on the big screen.
“It would stop the embarrassment nationally and internationally that Utah is suffering right now because of this pure idiocy,” Anderson said.
The Utah Young Democrats have also joined the social media support for Brewvies by announcing a meeting at the theater this Friday on Facebook.
“What the DABC is doing is legal,” said Alex Cragun, the Vice President of the Young Democrats of Utah. “They can do that and until Utah decides they want to change that by electing other people, it's going to continue being legal, which is very unfortunate.”
The DABC declined to comment to FOX 13 News.
