Hollywood boycotts The Beverly Hills Hotel over planned imposition of Islamic law in Brunei

he response here to the planned imposition of Islamic law in Brunei, with extreme penalties for adultery and gay sex, has become more pointed in recent days as two Hollywood-related charities moved events from the Beverly Hills Hotel, which is owned by the Brunei Investment Agency.

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Separately, the Hollywood Reporter wrote that the annual “Night Before the Oscars” fund-raiser for the Motion Picture and Television Fund, usually held at the Beverly Hills Hotel, will now be held elsewhere.

The sultan of Brunei, Hassanal Bolkiah, last week began phasing in a new penal code based on Islamic law, or Shariah, that by 2015 will make gay sex and adultery punishable by stoning to death. The sultan’s investment agency owns the Dorchester Collection, which manages a chain of hotels that includes the Beverly Hills Hotel, the Hotel Bel-Air and other luxury hotels.

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Last week, the Global Women’s Rights Awards, co-chaired by Jay Leno and his wife, Mavis, moved from the Beverly Hills Hotel to another location. On Monday, its sponsor, the Feminist Majority Foundation, staged a protest at the hotel, joined by Mr. Leno. Richard Branson, the entrepreneur; Tim Gill, a social rights advocate; and Ellen DeGeneres are also among those who have voiced support for the boycott.

Long frequented by movie stars and those who like to watch them, the hotel and its famous Polo Lounge, perched on a slight rise above Sunset Boulevard in Beverly Hills, are known for a clubby sense of casual luxury. But even regulars rapidly turned their backs, as Hollywood figures as influential as Jeffrey Katzenberg, who founded the “Night Before the Oscars” and has staged it at the hotel for more than a decade, declared it off limits. Mr. Katzenberg did not immediately respond to a query on Monday.

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http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/06/us/hotel-boycott-grows-over-brunei-penal-code.html?_r=0