Beloved Cinema Arts Centre director fired, sparking community backlash

Well, the Cinema Arts Center has been a staple in the Huntington community for more than 50 years, but now community members are upset after the center fired a beloved director. News 12's Jenna Ray Gartner has the details. The Cinema Arts Center has been a really big part of my life and a lot of people's lives here in Huntington for a long time, and it's just a shame that it has to come down to this. The beloved Cinema Arts Center is seeing a lot of pushback after they fired Dylan Skolnick, the founder's son and co-director. Without Dylan Skolnick, the Cinema Arts Center is not the Cinema Arts Center. The board said in a letter to the community, the cinema parted ways with Mr. Skolnick after discovering and communicating to him what it believed to be and continues to believe was serious misconduct. The board refuses to give further details about what happened. And I think it's just a terrifying, chilling precedent to fire somebody like this and say, oh, we can't tell you why. You can say anything about anybody, defame character, destroy a career. Oh, but I can't speak. And when you use a phrase like serious misconduct, it implies, you know, something really bad. Nothing like that is being asserted from from what I know. David Schwartz has been coming to the Cinema Arts Center since the 1970s and has known Dylan for most of his life. I think people need a better explanation for what happened. But from what I'm what from what I've seen, there is no good explanation. And Dylan is is irreplaceable. The theater was still busy Friday night, but many longtime members and film presenters say they are boycotting the center until the issue gets resolved. I feel I can't go out there until this is resolved and resolved in one way. Dylan being reinstated. I don't think it's ever going to feel the same as it was. It felt like a community. And now it feels like a big family feud. In Huntington, Suffolk County, Jenna Ray Gartner, News 12. Now, on Thursday, supporters also started a petition to reinstate Dylan Skolnick. It's gotten more than 800 signatures so far.