Beverly Hills Hotel Protest Protester Posing With Police - P 2014
Chris GodleyThe mayor of Beverly Hills and legendary director Rob Reiner are among the latest public figures to take a stand against the Beverly Hills Hotel over its connection to an anti-gay law in Brunei.
The hotel is run by the Dorchester Collection, which is owned by Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah through the Brunei Investment Agency. The Sultan recently instituted a severe new penal code based on Sharia law that calls for death by stoning for homosexuals and adulterers.
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On Tuesday the Beverly Hills City Council passed a unanimous resolution urging the government of Brunei to change its laws or divest its ownership of the hotel.
The Beverly Hills mayor agreed that the hotel should be under new management.
“Ideally, the Brunei government will repeal these horrific laws. However, if this doesn’t happen, we want the hotel under different ownership so that its long and rich history in Beverly Hills will not be tarnished,” Lili Bosse said, according to CBS This Morning.
The U.S. State Department also got involved on Tuesday, with the U.S. ambassador relaying the country’s concerns to the Brunei government, CBS This Morning reported.
Events that have pulled out of the hotel in the wake of Brunei’s new law include: The Hollywood Reporter‘s Women in Entertainment breakfast, the Motion Picture & Television Fund’s glitzy Oscar-eve fundraising party, the Feminist Majority Foundation’s Global Women’s Rights Awards, the Courage in Journalism Awards, the Independent School Alliance for Minority Awards and a Teen Line fundraiser honoring Sony Pictures Entertainment co-chairman Amy Pascal.
Director Rob Reiner has also said that he’s boycotting all hotels owned by the Brunei government.
“I refuse to patronize, do business with or attend any events at any hotels owned by the Sultan and government of Brunei,” Reiner said in a statement obtained by CBS This Morning.
