FYI: The director for Marvel's Black Panther is not a bank robber.
Ryan Coogler, who directed the superhero film, was accused of trying to rob a Bank of America branch in Atlanta after the bank teller misinterpreted Coogler's request to withdraw funds discreetly.
Coogler was wearing sunglasses, a hat and a facial covering in accordance with the bank's mask mandate.
He handed the teller a withdrawal slip that read:
"I would like to withdraw $12,000 cash from my checking account."
"Please do the money count somewhere else. I'd like to be discreet."
Despite Coogler's reasonable request for caution with a large sum from his own account, the teller's instinct was to notify her boss of an attempted bank robbery.
An alert was triggered when the teller went to process the transaction on a computer.
That was when she apprised her boss of her suspicions and they called the police.
Footage of the interaction was shared on Twitter:
You can watch a news report, here.
Responding officers arrived at the scene and proceeded to handcuff Coogler.
According to a TMZ report, an investigation determined the 35-year-old filmmaker was innocent and the fault lay with the bank teller.
Coogler was understandably upset over the incident and allegedly asked for the badge numbers of the cops involved in his wrongful arrest.
Some people thought fault lay with both parties.
A Bank of America spokesperson has since apologized to Coolger.
They issued a statement obtained by Variety, which read:
“We deeply regret that this incident occurred. It never should have happened and we have apologized to Mr. Coogler.”
Coogler told the media outlet:
“This situation should never have happened. However, Bank of America worked with me and addressed it to my satisfaction and we have moved on.”
The director had been in Georgia filming the sequel for Black Panther, which became the highest-grossing film of all time by a Black film director after its release in 2018.
The Black Panther sequel was already beset with numerous issues since filming started last year–including a delay in production after an on set injury and crew and cast members testing positive for COVID-19.
