Anna Wintour boycotts Paris hotel over Brunei anti-gay laws
By Josh Haggis
Anna Wintour, editor of US Vogue, has announced the magazine’s staff will boycott the Le Meurice hotel in Paris – an establishment frequented by the world’s fashion elite.
The Sultan of Brunei, Hassanal Bolkiah, owns the well-known ‘Dorchester Collection’ of hotels, of which Le Meurice is a member.
In April, he introduced new laws that make anal sex punishable with death by stoning, alongside other offences like rape, adultery, extramarital sexual relations for Muslims.
“While I am sensitive to the potential impact that this issue may have on the wonderful staff at Le Meurice, I cannot in all good conscience stay there, nor can Vogue‘s editors,” Wintour told the New York Times.
Publishing company Condé Nast, owner of Vogue and other popular publications such as Glamour, told the newspaper that all of their brands have elected to boycott the Sultan of Brunei’s hotels, with Glamour editor Cindi Leive adding: “I don’t think this is a political issue. This is about basic human rights. No hotel is nice enough for that.”
Wintour joins other high profile celebrities including Richard Branson, Sharon Osbourne and Lisa Vanderpump in boycotting Dorchester Collection hotels in protest against the Sultan of Brunei’s anti-gay laws.
Gay rights charity Stonewall recently criticised the ongoing celebrity boycott of Brunei-owned Dorchester hotels, saying the campaign is unlikely to effect change and risks doing “very real harm” to LGBT people in Brunei.
> Oscars party withdraws from LA Hotel over Brunei anti-gay law
> Magazine awards snub Brunei-owned Dorchester hotel
> Kardashians move bridal shower over Brunei anti-gay laws