Schwarzengger's 'Kindergarten Cop' showing canceled at Portland theater because of school policing portrayal

A Portland theater canceled a screening of the Arnold Schwarzenegger comedy "Kindergarten Cop" after complaints about its portrayal of over-policing in schools.

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Thursday, August 6, 2020
'Kindergarten Cop' pulled from Portland drive-in
A Portland drive-in movie series canceled a screening of the 1990s Arnold Schwarzenegger comedy "Kindergarten Cop" after complaints about its portrayal of over-policing in schools.

PORTLAND -- A drive-in movie series in Portland has pulled its opening night screening of Arnold Schwarzenegger's comedy, "Kindergarten Cop" after some people complained the film's portrayal of policing may be out-of-step with today's political climate.

Portland's Northwest Film Center was slated to screen the 1990 comedy to kick off its summer cinema series, in part because the movie was made in Oregon.

In the film, Schwarzengger plays a detective who goes undercover in a school to catch a drug dealer.

The choice received some pushback from local residents. A local author, Lois Leveen led the charge on Twitter, saying things like, "There's nothing entertaining about the presence of police in schools which feeds the 'school-to-prison' pipeline."

The film was replaced with a showing of the John Lewis documentary, "Good Trouble."

Among those who criticized the decision was conservative Sen. Ted Cruz, who tweeted: "Nutty. Angry leftists hate Hollywood. Anyone who disagrees will be censored. Hollywood, afraid of the mob, will keep funding those trying to erase any speech/movies that don't conform."