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Are Bed Bugs Back at Times Square AMC Theater?

By Gwynne Hogan | September 14, 2015 2:18pm
 Moviegoers took to social media after they thought the got bed bugs from AMC's Empire Theater. 
Moviegoers took to social media after they thought the got bed bugs from AMC's Empire Theater. 
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DNAinfo/Gwynne Hogan

 

TIMES SQUARE — AMC's Empire Theater on 42nd Street maybe infested with bed bugs — again. 

Several angry moviegoers took to social media in the past few days to decry AMC after being attacked by bed bugs at the theater and to post pictures of their bites, Gothamist first reported. 

Astoria resident Joseph Matoske, 28, and his girlfriend went to see "Ant-Man" on Friday at the Times Square theater and immediately noticed bites after. 

"As soon as we got home, we noticed we were both itchy and covered in huge bug bites," Matoske told Gothamist. "They offered us comp tickets to any AMC location for our troubles."

Cindy Feng vented on Facebook, posting multiple pictures of her bites and aggregating comments about the movie theater for several years that mentioned bed bugs. 

***PLEASE BE ADVISED THERE MAY BE DISTURBING IMAGES***---WARNING TO PEOPLE IN NEW YORK---I'm not sure about the other...

Posted by Cindy Feng on Monday, September 7, 2015

 

Bed bugs have haunted the theater before. In 2010, AMC had to close it for extermination while it tried to combat then for the pervasive pests. 

 

Spokesman for AMC Ryan Noonan would not confirm or deny the reports that the theater was infested with bed bugs. He offered the following statement instead:

"As we’ve seen the last few years, bed bugs are an issue for several businesses in NYC and throughout the country. At AMC, we take aggressive, proactive steps, including regular inspections and inspections any time a bed bug is suspected," Noonan wrote. "If any inspection comes back positive, the affected area is treated the same day by a third-party expert pest control company. Out of an abundance of caution, increased proactive inspections are continuing at this location."

The city's Department of Health did not immediately return to a request for comment.