Ellen DeGeneres minced few words when it came to Brunei's controversial new penal code which includes capital punishment for same-sex acts.
The media icon, 56, tweeted her plans to boycott the Dorchester Collection, a Brunei-owned luxury hotel chain whose U.S. properties include the Hotel Bel-Air and the Beverly Hills Hotel, in response to the news, the London Evening Standard and other media outlets reported.
The star joins British comic Stephen Fry and designers Brian Atwood and Peter Som in expressing her distaste for the new code, which had been slated to take effect April 22, according to Gay Asia News and other media outlets.
Meanwhile, a spokesperson for the hotel chain, which is owned by the Sultan of Brunei, released a statement to WWD, saying that officials had "no involvement in this religious and political issue.”
“We continue to abide by the laws of the countries we operate in and do not tolerate any form of discrimination of any kind," the spokesperson added, according to the report. "The laws that exist in other countries outside of where Dorchester Collection operates do not affect the policies that govern how we run our hotels."
The media icon, 56, tweeted her plans to boycott the Dorchester Collection, a Brunei-owned luxury hotel chain whose U.S. properties include the Hotel Bel-Air and the Beverly Hills Hotel, in response to the news, the London Evening Standard and other media outlets reported.
I won't be visiting the Hotel Bel-Air or the Beverly Hills Hotel until this is resolved. http://t.co/RqQrLBK4EJ
— Ellen DeGeneres (@TheEllenShow) April 22, 2014The star joins British comic Stephen Fry and designers Brian Atwood and Peter Som in expressing her distaste for the new code, which had been slated to take effect April 22, according to Gay Asia News and other media outlets.
Meanwhile, a spokesperson for the hotel chain, which is owned by the Sultan of Brunei, released a statement to WWD, saying that officials had "no involvement in this religious and political issue.”
“We continue to abide by the laws of the countries we operate in and do not tolerate any form of discrimination of any kind," the spokesperson added, according to the report. "The laws that exist in other countries outside of where Dorchester Collection operates do not affect the policies that govern how we run our hotels."