Hotels owned by sultan of Brunei go dark on social media amid boycott calls

A number of luxury hotels owned by the ruler of Brunei have deleted their social media accounts amid calls for a boycott over the island nation’s new law punishing homosexuality.

The accounts were removed the same day that the law, which makes gay sex and adultery punishable by death and calls for stoning, took effect.

The Dorchester Collection, which is owned by the sultan of Brunei, Hassanal Bolkiah, and operates the five-star hotels, issued a statement on Twitter saying it has deactivated the pages “due to the personal abuse directed at our employees.”{mosads}

“Dorchester Collection is an inclusive and diverse company and does not tolerate any form of discrimination,” the statement reads.

In light of recent events. pic.twitter.com/a8SoivIrX7

— DorchesterCollection (@DC_LuxuryHotels) April 3, 2019

Eight hotels, including the Dorchester in London and The Beverly Hills Hotel in Los Angeles deleted their Twitter accounts on Wednesday. Some also made their Instagram accounts private, including Le Meurice in Paris.

Celebrities including George Clooney and Ellen Degeneres have backed a boycott of the hotels, which are located around the world.

“Let’s be clear, every single time we stay at or take meetings at or dine at any of these nine hotels we are putting money directly into the pockets of men who choose to stone and whip to death their own citizens for being gay or accused of adultery,” Clooney wrote in an op-ed.

The new law, among other new statues that order amputation of hands or feet for crimes of theft, make the country the first in East Asia to adopt Islam’s Sharia law.