SF Cinema Disputes Viral Tweet Claiming End of Royal Anthem

Image: @lmmablackbarbie / Twitter

BANGKOK — A popular cinema chain on Monday said it continues to show the Royal Anthem music video prior to each screening, contradicting a viral tweet claiming otherwise.

Twitter user @lmmablackbarbie wrote on Sunday that the Royal Anthem was not played at the SF Cinema branch inside Central Rama 9 shopping mall. The tweet has been shared nearly 80,000 times.

“SF didn’t show the Royal Anthem. Amazing, no one has to stand anymore,” the user wrote in a series of tweets. “I went to Central Rama 9. They really didn’t open it. I was thinking about how I didn’t want to stand, and in the end they didn’t screen it. I don’t know about other branches.”

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But a call center operator from SF Cinema said that the company has no such policy.

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The operator said the Royal Anthem was screened after commercials and movie trailers, but before a soundcheck, so the Twitter user might have entered the cinema late and misunderstood that there was an omission.

Many theatergoers decline to stand up for the Royal Anthem in recent months as a show of support for the campaign to reform the monarchy – sometimes at risk of physical attacks from ultraroyalists inside the theaters.

Contrary to popular belief, refusal to stand for the Royal Anthem is no longer a punishable charge under any law – the offense was repealed in 2010, though some bystanders may still file complaints of royal defamation against the individuals.