US: Rose McGowan throws party in support of Brunei-owned Beverly Hills Hotel
Actress Rose McGowan held a defiant party in support of the Brunei-owned Beverly Hills Hotel, despite a boycott over Brunei’s anti-gay laws.
In April, Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah gave approval to Brunei’s revised penal code, which urges death by stoning for same-sex sexual activity.
A string of celebrities, including Ellen Degeneres, Stephen Fry, Virgin tycoon Sir Richard Branson and Sharon Osbourne have since joined a boycott of the Sultan’s luxury hotel chain The Dorchester Collection.
However, Charmed actress McGowan last week threw a party at the hotel in defiance of the boycott, claiming that it would have ‘no effect’ other than to hurt the hotel staff.
McGowan told Huffington Post: “Boycotts only work when they hurt the target’s bottom line.
“We are never going to affect the sultan’s bottom line. He’s worth $20 billion! This is a vanity project for him.
“It could sit empty for 100 years and he wouldn’t even notice. But meanwhile, we’re hurting all the wonderful, struggling people who work in the hotel.
“I’d like him to see that gays are real people. I think that’s the only thing that would change his mind — not a boycott.”
Her friend Amanda Goodwin, who helped plan the party, added: “A lot of people have asked me whether I’d go if it were Hitler. Probably. I think I would. I’d go, and I’d say, ‘I’m a Jew’.”
“I think it’s great that we’re here, being gay, sitting on his sofa. I really want to gay this place up.”
