The magazibn LA Confidential had planned to honour R&B musician John Legend at a pre-Grammys party at the Beverly Hills Hotel on Thursday night, but it will have to do so without him present. The Oscar- and Grammy-nominated singer and pianist has cancelled his appearance at the annual awards-season party in protest at the misogyny and homophobia of the venue’s owner
“John Legend will not be attending the LA Confidential party … in light of the horrific anti-women and anti-LGBT policies approved by the hotel’s owner, the Sultan of Brunei,” Legend’s publicity representative Amanda Silverman told the Hollywood Reporter. “These policies, which among other things could permit women and LGBT Bruneians to be stoned to death, are heinous and certainly don’t represent John’s values or the spirit of the event.” Legend often voices his opinions on social justice and civil rights on Twitter, commenting passionately and engaging with other users.
“Los Angeles Confidential Magazine is an avid supporter of equal rights for all people,” LA Confidential publicist Alison Miller said to the Hollywood Reporter, in response to Legend’s statement. “Our decision to hold our event at the hotel in no way suggests that we support any anti-human rights policies.”
On top of Legend’s decision to back out of the event, LGBT advocacy group Human Rights Campaign sent a letter to Miller, asking her and the magazine to consider an alternative venue for the party.
“We feel strongly that those who support the rights of women and the LGBT community should take their business elsewhere,” wrote the group’s global director, Ty Cobb. “I write to ask that you reconsider your decision to host an event at the Beverly Hills Hotel, or any hotel owned by the Sultan of Brunei”.
Legend appears on the cover of LA Confidential this month, and was due to attend with his wife Chrissy Teigen. Other invited guests include Selma director Ava DuVernay, the rapper Common, with whom Legend is nominated for an Oscar, and producer Diplo.
Critics of the Sultan of Brunei have been boycotting the Beverly Hills hotel since May 2014, when Hollywood reacted to Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah’s implementation of anti-LGBT and anti-adultery laws . In May, Beverly Hills mayor Lili Bosse publicly announced her personal decision to stop frequenting the hotel, and told a council meeting that by doing so “we are standing for human rights, we are standing for dignity and we are standing for those who don’t have a voice.”
Bolkiah has owned the Beverly Hills hotel, one of the 10 luxury hotels in his Dorchester Collection group, since 1992.
