Hollywood, others respond to Sultan of Brunei’s views with Beverly Hills Hotel boycott

LOS ANGELES, Calif. – Hollywood is responding to harsh new laws in Brunei by boycotting the Beverly Hills Hotel.

The Motion Picture & Television Fund joined a growing list of organizations and individuals Monday refusing to do business with hotels owned by the Sultan or government of Brunei. They’re protesting the country’s new penal code that calls for punishing adultery, abortions and same-sex relationships with flogging and stoning.

The Motion Picture & Television Fund says it won’t hold its annual Night Before the Oscar party at the hotel as it has for many years.

Brunei’s Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah has praised his country’s new Islamic Shariah criminal law. He owns the Beverly Hills Hotel.

Others boycotting the hotel include Richard Branson and the Feminist Majority Foundation, which moved its annual Global Women’s Rights Awards on Monday to the nearby Hammer Museum.