YOUR FAVORITE LOGO TV SHOWS ARE ON PARAMOUNT+

George Clooney Leads Boycott of Hotels Owned by Anti-Gay Brunei

The nation plans to implement the death penalty for citizens caught committing adultery or having gay sex.

George Clooney wants you to check out where you're checking in.

In a new guest column for Deadline, Clooney calls for the immediate boycott of the Beverly Hills Hotel, Hotel Bel-Air, and other exclusive hotels owned by Hassanal Bolkiah, the Sultan of Brunei, to protest the country's imminent implementation of the death penalty for homosexual acts between consenting adults.

Suhaimi Abdullah/Getty Images

SINGAPORE - JULY 05: Sultan of Brunei Hassanal Bolkiah attends a courtesy call to meet with Singapore President, Tony Tan Keng Yam at the Istana on July 5, 2017 in Singapore. Sultan of Brunei Hassanal Bolkiah is on a two-day visit to Singapore. (Photo by Suhaimi Abdullah/Getty Images)

As reported earlier this week, LGBTQ rights advocates are feverishly spreading word of Brunei's plans to implement Sharia law as part of a change to the country's penal code. In 2014 the small southeast Asian nation became the first in the region to instate this horrific Muslim legislation.

Consensual gay sex in Brunei is already punishable by up to 10 years in prison. The new laws, initially delayed due to international outrage, would now add whipping and stoning to the punishments for those citizens found guilty.

"We are trying to get pressure placed on the government of Brunei but realize there is a very short time frame until the laws take affect," Matthew Woolfe, founder of The Brunei Project, tells Reuters. "It took us by surprise that the government has now given a date and is rushing through implementation."

Clooney condemned the announcement that, beginning April 3, Brunei will whip and stone to death any citizens caught committing adultery or having gay sex. "Let that sink in," he wrote. "In the onslaught of news where we see the world backsliding into authoritarianism this stands alone."

The actor also listed Brunei-owned properties The Dorchester, London
; 45 Park Lane, London; 
Coworth Park, U.K.; 
Le Meurice, Paris
; Hotel Plaza Athenee, Paris
; Hotel Eden, Rome
; and Hotel Principe di Savoia, Milan.

"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 writes. "Are we really going to help pay for these human rights violations? Are we really going to help fund the murder of innocent citizens?"

Clooney’s boycott was quickly supported on social media by celebrities such as Rufus Wainwright, Elton John, activist James Duke Mason, and Queer Eye's Bobby Berk and Jonathan Van Ness using the hashtag #BoycottBrunei. Even staunchly conservative Sen. Ted Cruz agreed with Clooney’s statements, calling Brunei’s laws "immoral, barbaric & inhumane."

"Stoning people to death for homosexuality or adultery is appalling and immoral," former Vice President Joe Biden tweeted. "Every single person on earth is entitled to be treated with dignity and to live without fear. There is no excuse—not culture, not tradition—for this kind of hate and inhumanity."

"If you continue to stay at or frequent the Beverly Hills Hotel, you are guilty of financially supporting these murderers," tweeted Oscar-winning screenwriter Dustin Lance Black.

Clooney, who was a vocal champion of marriage equality, played pro-equality attorney David Boies in a 2012 star-studded Los Angeles reading of Black’s play 8, adapted from transcripts of California’s historic Proposition 8 trial.

David McNew/Getty Images

BEVERLY HILLS, CA - MAY 5: Demonstrators protest draconian punishment of women and gay people announced by the Sultan of Brunei near the entrance to the Beverly Hills Hotel, which is owned by the Sultan, on May 5, 2014 in Beverly Hills, California. The Sultan of Brunei is planning to implement a brand of Sharia Penal Code which calls for the stoning of people for various offenses including homosexual acts, adultery, sodomy and extramarital sexual relations, a move that has been criticized by The United Nations. (Photo by David McNew/Getty Images)

"Well before Prop. 8, I’ve made the point that every time we’ve stood against equality, we’ve been on the wrong side of history," he told The Advocate.

Clooney also discussed his willingness to use his celebrity to make political statements. "A lot of actors come from a place of fear, and that’s just a general statement about actors," he explained. "The simple truth is that everyone has an opinion, everyone has the right to voice it, and they should if they want to."

Jay Leno notably spoke at a Coalition of Women's Rights, LGBT, and Human Rights Groups Rally, held across from the Beverly Hills Hotel in 2014, to protest Brunei's introduction of Sharia law. Ellen DeGeneres, Sharon Osbourne, and Kim Kardashian were among the celebrities who joined in the boycott.

Latest News