When it was revealed that a new set of laws in the oil-rich country of Brunei have been implemented that would stone to death homosexuals convicted of sodomy (and give lesbians 100 lashes), many celebrities have called for a complete boycott of Brunei-owned hotels.
Last Thursday, George Clooney spearheaded the campaign, writing in Deadline:
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,” he wrote in Deadline. Others like Bobby Berk, Sir Elton John, and Ellen Degeneres publicly signed on to the boycott with Degeneres sharing a graphic listing the Dorchester Collection’s hotels. On Monday, Clooney published a follow up, responding to a few criticisms of the boycott.
“It is also true that the Sultan won’t be terribly hurt by a boycott, but the scores of companies he funnels money through will distance themselves,” he wrote. “That’s what a boycott does.
That’s the Sultan of Brunei, btw, pictured above wearing a silly chapeau. Horrible, horrible man.
Now, as the criticism grows online, a number of the hotels have cowardly removed themselves from social platforms.
The Beverly Hills Hotel in Los Angeles, The Dorchester in London, and Le Meurice in Paris are among the 10 properties who removed their Twitter accounts on Wednesday. Hotel Le Meurice in Paris and Hotel Eden in Rome have made their Instagram accounts private.
As a reminder, the hotels to be boycotted are:
The Dorchester, London
45 Park Lane, London
Coworth Park, UK
The Beverly Hills Hotel, Beverly Hills
Hotel Bel-Air, Los Angeles
Le Meurice, Paris
Hotel Plaza Athenee, Paris
Hotel Eden, Rome
Hotel Principe di Savoia, Milan
(photo: Avalon)