Protesters in the US call for a boycott of the famous Beverly Hills Hotel after its owner, the Sultan of Brunei, begins the implementation of Sharia law. Sarah Toms reports.
Boycott target ... the Beverly Hills Hotel is part of the Dorchester Collection, owned by the Sultan of Brunei. Source: Supplied
AS the celebrity boycott of a hotel chain owned by the Sultan of Brunei steps up, the CEO of the hotel company says he feels "incredibly unfairly picked on".
Speaking to CBS News, Dorchester Collection CEO Christopher Cowdray said the campaign to boycott the Beverly Hills Hotel, the Hotel Bel-Air and others in the group was "misdirected".
Steven Fry and Ellen DeGeneres were among the first celebrities to raise awareness that the hotels are part owned by the Sultan of Brunei, who has just introduced tough new Sharia laws in his homeland.
Among many other punitive measures, the laws call for the stoning to death of homosexuals and women convicted of adultery.
Richard Branson, Jay Leno, Sharon Osbourne, Bo Derek, Mia Farrow and Sara Gilbert have since offered their support for the campaign, and nine fashion or entertainment-industry organisations have cancelled their events at Dorchester Collection hotels.
EARLIER: Beginnings of the boycott
Celebrity support ... Jay Leno spoke at a rally outside the Beverly Hills Hotel organised by feminist and LGBT community groups. Source: Supplied
Flying in to Los Angeles to deal with the flack, Cowdray said the protesters were merely "hurting a local business" and its 650 employees — many of whom rely on tips from the hotels' well-heeled guests.
He said the hotels had done "absolutely nothing wrong" and he felt "totally unfairly picked on".
He declined to give an opinion on the laws bring introduced in Brunei, saying the correct avenue for protest was through the US State Department.
"There's other hotel companies in (Los Angeles) that are owned by Saudi Arabia," Cowdray said. "Your shirt probably comes from a country that probably has human rights issues. To single out the Beverly Hills Hotel and the Dorchester Collection and particularly our employees is very unjust."
But his comments have been slammed on social media.
"He should try getting stoned to death for being gay and see how he feels," one Facebook user commented.
Instagram user Cameron Silver criticised Cowdray for conflating the issue with other human rights issues.
"This will go on to be a text book example of a CEO failing to handle a global crisis directly and quickly and letting it spread like cancer. It is only growing and now #stopthesultan has effectively diluted any glamour to hotels that once oozed decorum and class," Silver wrote.
The condemnation continued on Twitter.
COMMENT BELOW: Is the boycott of Dorchester Collection hotels misguided, as Christopher Cowdray says?
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