On Monday, Hollywood announced a boycott against the Beverly Hills Hotel thanks to its ownership by the Sultan of Brunei, who recently declared that the country would be ruled under sharia law. According to the Hollywood Reporter, that means that Brunei will now operate under laws that “call for violent punishment, including amputation and death by stoning, against those engaging in same-sex activity and extramarital sexual relations and those committing adultery.” And as Big Hollywood’s John Nolte stated:
Hopefully, rather than using gay rights as a weak and hypocritical excuse to single out and beat up on conservative Christians, this is the first step of a Hollywood that will use its awesome power to call attention to the very real and tragic horrors homosexuals face in Islamic countries.
In honoring that “first step,” we hereby recommend that Hollywood leverage its massive market power against other sharia law targets. Here are nine others:
The Movie Promised Land. Matt Damon’s anti-fracking diatribe was funded by the royal family of the United Arab Emirates. As Lachlan Markey of Heritage Foundation writes, “Promised Land was also produced ‘in association’ with Image Media Abu Dhabi, a subsidiary of Abu Dhabi Media…The company is wholly owned by the government of the UAE.”
The UAE currently operates, at least titularly, under sharia law, meaning that homosexuality is penalized with death under law, and at the very least, the government forces suspected homosexuals into psychological treatment. Sodomy receives imprisonment of 14 years. In 2005, the Minister of Justice, Islamic Affairs and Auqaf said, “There will be no room for homosexual and queer acts in the UAE. Our society does not accept queer behavior, either in word or in action.” In practice, gays are typically deported.
Warner Brothers, Universal, and Paramount. Abu Dhabi is one of the United Arab Emirates. In 2007, Warner Brothers signed a “multibillion-dollar agreement” with Abu Dhabi investors to build hotels, a theme park, and movie theaters. A half-billion film fund and another half-billion video game fund was created. One of its movies was the Robert Rodriguez kiddie film Shorts (2009). Other companies including Universal and Paramount are also building in conjunction with Abu Dhabi.
The Abu Dhabi Film Festival and The Dubai Film Festival. Stars like Uma Thurman and Adrian Brody have attended the Abu Dhabi Film Festival. And the Dubai Film Festival – Dubai is a member of the UAE as well — has attracted celebrities including Cate Blanchett, Tom Cruise, George Clooney, Oliver Stone, Gerard Butler, Salma Hayek, Richard Gere, Ben Affleck, Brad Bird, and others.
Al Jazeera America. Al Gore had no problem taking hundreds of millions of dollars from the government of Qatar to sell his Current TV to Al Jazeera America. Qatar is ruled by a combination of civil and sharia law. Sodomy is punishable by between one and three years in prison. Qatar is now cooperating with the Gulf Cooperative Countries to apply an anti-gay test to those who wish to immigrate to the country.
Bank of America. Qatar currently holds a $1 billion stake in Bank of America.
Major Universities Including Harvard, Georgetown, Columbia, University of Arkansas and Berkeley. All these major universities have taken serious cash from the Saudi government. In 2005, Prince Alwaleed bin Tala Alsaud handed $20 million to Harvard and another $20 million to Georgetown. He stated, “Bridging the understanding between East and West is important for peace and tolerance.” Georgetown President John J. DeGioia stated, “The gift will deepen Georgetown’s ability to advance education in the fields of Islamic civilization and Muslim-Christian understanding, and strengthen its presence as a world leader in facilitating cross-cultural and inter-religious dialogue.” Saudi Arabia punishes homosexuality with penalties ranging from death to lashings, from chemical castration to prison sentences.
Hotel Bel-Air. It has the same owners as the Beverly Hills Hotel. So far, that hasn’t gotten much press.
The Four Seasons Hotels. The Four Seasons Resort and Hotels Management company is co-owned by Prince Alwaleed and Bill Gates. They manage the Four Seasons hotels, which are owned by others. If Hollywood is also interested in secondary boycotts, perhaps they would consider boycotting Gates.
Fairmont Hotels. Alwaleed’s Kingdom Holding owns a 35% chunk of Fairmont Hotels and Resorts.
Using market power to undercut the assets of sharia law countries is unquestionably a worthwhile cause. But Hollywood’s hypocrisy is evident when they take sharia law cash and attend their glitzy events all over the world.
Ben Shapiro is Senior Editor-At-Large of Breitbart News and author of the New York Times bestseller “Bullies: How the Left’s Culture of Fear and Intimidation Silences America” (Threshold Editions, January 8, 2013). He is also Editor-in-Chief of TruthRevolt.org. Follow Ben Shapiro on Twitter @benshapiro.