Aaron Sorkin’s ‘Being the Ricardos’ Film Shoot Canceled at Chateau Marmont amid Hotel Boycott over Racial Discrimination and Sexual Misconduct

The film shoot for screenwriter-director Aaron Sorkin’s Being the Ricardos was canceled at Chateau Marmont in Los Angeles, California, over a boycott of the landmark hotel, which is facing widespread claims of racial discrimination and sexual misconduct from former staffers, according to a report by the Hollywood Reporter.

Production was canceled just hours before it was set to begin on Thursday due to a union picket line and a celebrity boycott movement. Over the past year, Chateau Marmont has also been facing allegations that it unfairly left its workers without affordable health care during the Chinese coronavirus pandemic.

“Writer-director Aaron Sorkin, the cast and crew of Being the Ricardos stand in solidarity with The Chateau Marmont’s workforce,” producer Todd Black told Hollywood Reporter on Thursday.

“We are committed to supporting and building a safe and equitable environment where everyone has the right to work with dignity and free from fear,” Black added. “We are thankful to the organizers of the hospitality workers’ union of UNITE HERE Local 11 for sharing this information about the mistreatment of the workers. The production took immediate action to shut down the 1-day shoot as soon as this was brought to our attention.”

The outlet reported that it remains unclear “how the production had no apparent advance knowledge of the claims against the Chateau, which have been the subject of substantial news coverage over the past year.”

A spokesperson for Chateau Marmont denied the claims, telling Hollywood Reporter, “Throughout its history, the Chateau Marmont has always been a safe haven for creative people to express themselves in accordance with the First Amendment.”

“Today, Unite Here Local 11 broke that century-long compact by disrupting a union production who had the legal right to film on the hotel property,” the spokesperson added.

Being the Ricardos stars Nicole Kidman as Lucille Ball, and Javier Bardem as Desi Arnaz, in a film about the I Love Lucy stars “as they face a crisis that could end their careers and another that could end their marriage,” according to IMDb.

Last year, it as announced that Chateau Marmont — which has also served as a Hollywood hotspot for nearly a century — would be converted into a members-only hotel. In 2014, actors Ben Foster and Robin Wright got engaged at a party at the hotel.

In 2017, actor Robert Davi wrote an open letter for Breitbart News to Hollywood elites to practice what they preach by inviting illegal aliens and refugees “to the Oscars and all the after-parties, even those held at the mansions or the Chateau Marmont.”

You can follow Alana Mastrangelo on Facebook and Twitter at @ARmastrangelo, on Parler @alana, and on Instagram.