Just days after the Los Angeles City Council joined a call to boycott the Hotel Bel-Air and the Beverly Hills Hotel, both owned by the government of Brunei’s Dorchester Collection, the country’s sultan reportedly extended a moratorium on a death penalty that would have permitted stoning for those convicted of engaging in gay sexual acts.
Following a global backlash and an outcry from celebrities including George Clooney, Elton John and Ellen DeGeneres to boycott the nine luxury hotels he owns around the world, it remains unclear whether the boycott will be lifted.
It was already illegal in Brunei to engage in gay sexual acts and laws on the books call for punishment with up to a decade sentence in prison.
The sultan said on Sunday that the death penalty would not be enforced as part of the Syariah Penal Code Order. These were the sultan’s first comments on the issue, and reports said the sultan’s office went to the unusual step of releasing an English translation of his order.