Parents: '50 Shades' visible from 'SpongeBob' at drive-in

CONCORD, Calif., Feb. 18 (UPI) -- Parents visiting a California drive-in theater said they were shocked to see Fifty Shades of Grey playing within view of the SpongeBob SquarePants audience.

Visitors to the West Wind Solano Drive-In in Concord said they brought their children to see The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water during the weekend and they were shocked and outraged to discover another screen was playing the R-rated Fifty Shades of Grey where their kids could see it. Deborah Powell of Vallejo said she brought her children and several of their friends to see SpongeBob Sunday.

"We had no choice but to go straight head on to Fifty Shades of Gray in the background. Well, in the front," Powell told KTVU-TV of entering the facility.

"At the time, there was a woman being slapped, naked, bound up," Powell said. "So we had to have our children close their eyes. I could see another car behind us that had children in there with their eyes closed."

Powell said she discovered Fifty Shades could be seen from most vantage points in the SpongeBob audience, so she complained to an employee.

"He was apologetic. He agreed that it wasn't appropriate, and that there had been other complaints," Powell said.

"There is no way to avoid looking at that screen. It's too tempting. So, we couldn't stay. We had to turn around. My children were devastated," she said.

Joy Peter, who lives in the nearby Dallas Senior Park, said she agrees with Powell.

"That's not a good thing. What do the two have in common? And you can see both theaters," Peter told CBS San Francisco.

Some others said they don't see the issue as a big deal.

"It won't be the first time. I'm sure they've had other R-rated movies there on the screens," Dallas Senior Park resident Joanne Gressang said.