George Clooney Calls for Hotel Boycotts After Brunei's Anti-Gay Laws

Starting on April 3, 2019, Brunei will impose death by stoning for gay sex and adultery as part of the harsh Islamic Sharia law system it announced it would implement in 2013.

The announcement has alarmed plenty in the LGBT and travel communities and prompted actor George Clooney to call for a boycott of nine luxury hotels connected to the country.

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Clooney's call for a boycott appeared in an op-ed piece for Deadline. He began, “On this particular April 3rd the nation of Brunei will begin stoning and whipping to death any of its citizens that are proved to be gay. Let that sink in. In the onslaught of news where we see the world backsliding into authoritarianism this stands alone.”

The actor is calling for a boycott of nine luxury hotels in protest of these new laws. The hotels include two in Los Angeles, Hotel Bel-Air and The Beverly Hills Hotel and three properties in the U.K., The Dorchester, 45 Park Lane and Coworth Park. Le Meurice and Hotel Plaza Athenee in Paris, as well as Hotel Eden in Rome and Hotel Principe di Savoia in Milan are included on the boycott list.

The Sultan of Brunei who adopted the extreme version of Sharia Law for the small country is the owner of Brunei Investment Agency which owns the hotels on the boycott list.

“They own nine of the most exclusive hotels in the world. Full disclosure: I’ve stayed at many of them, a couple of them recently, because I hadn’t done my homework and didn’t know who owned them,” Clooney wrote.

While Clooney admits, “They’re nice hotels. The people who work there are kind and helpful and have no part in the ownership of these properties," he makes a great point about why to boycott these properties by saying, "But let’s be clear, every single time we stay at or take meetings at or dine at any of these nine hotels we are putting money directly into the pockets of men who choose to stone and whip to death their own citizens for being gay or accused of adultery."

Clooney is calling on the power of the public, many of whom book stays at these properties, to tell the Sultan that the Sharia Law is harmful to thousands of LGBT citizens, those accused of adultery and visitors by not staying at the hotels.

“Brunei is a Monarchy and certainly any boycott would have little effect on changing these laws. But are we really going to help pay for these human rights violations? Are we really going to help fund the murder of innocent citizens?” he wrote.

“I’ve learned over years of dealing with murderous regimes that you can’t shame them. But you can shame the banks, the financiers and the institutions that do business with them and choose to look the other way.”

The Beverly Hills hotel communications director, Brittany Williams, responded to George Clooney’s opinion piece by saying, “Dorchester Collection’s code (emphasises) equality, respect and integrity in all areas of our operation, and strongly values people and cultural diversity among our guests and employees. Inclusion and diversity remain core beliefs as we do not tolerate any form of discrimination.”