Night Before The Oscars will have to find a new venue for 2015, due to a conflict of values with the Beverly Hills Hotel.
In recent years, besides the glamour, celebrities and red carpet fashion at the Oscars, the show’s ethics have also been put into the spotlight. This year, The Night Before The Oscars, the biggest charity event related to the ceremony, has pulled out of the Beverly Hills Hotel because the venue is owned by the Sultan of Brunei. The event is being held by the Motion Picture And Television Fund, and the decision to stop collaborating with the hotel comes directly from the organization. The charity event does not want to appear to support or endorse the Sultan’s recently instated anti-LGBT penal code, based on Sharia law.
Supporters of the event include Will and Jada Pinkett-Smith.
Officials from MPTF, have met with executives from both the hotel and the Dorchester Collection, owner of the Beverly Hills Hotel, to inform them of the decision, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The Night Before party, which draws Hollywood’s biggest stars and every top executive in town, has been held at the Beverly Hills Hotel since its inauguration in 2003. It was originally started by Dreamworks’ CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg and has since raised over $60 million since its beginning. The party is regularly attended and supported by A-list talent – the 2013 committee, for example, included Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith, Jennifer Garner and Ben Affleck, Camila and Matthew Mcconaughey, Jamie Foxx, Sandra Bullock and Octavia Spencer.
Jamie Foxx is another notable attendee of the charity event.
MPTF’s top executives reportedly issued a statement to THR explaining that they expressed their “deep concern about the recent enactment of laws in Brunei that call for violent punishment, including amputation and death by stoning, against those engaging in same-sex activity and extramarital sexual relations and those committing adultery. We expressed very clearly that we cannot condone or tolerate these harsh and repressive laws and as a result support a business owned by the Sultan of Brunei or a Brunei sovereign fund associated with the government of Brunei.”
Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner are also regulars at the event.
Dramas exploring the nature of death and the true meaning of life are always in...
Love, time and death connect every single human being on earth, we long for love,...
DC Comics' villains team up for an overcrowded action movie that never quite finds its...
The Suicide Squad was formed by Amanda Waller, the head of Belle Reve Penitentiary and...
When there's nowhere left to turn, the bad guys might just turn out to be...
Dr. Bennet Omalu is a pathologist who loves his job and, in many ways, the...
Is it really wise to trust your most dangerous sworn enemies? Sometimes you have little...
A very odd blend of caper action, dark drama and romantic comedy, this slickly made...
While sitting at the bar of a hotel lobby one night, a man catches a...
A solid cast bodes well for this unnecessary remake of the 1982 movie (based on...
Nicky Spurgeon is a genius when it comes to his work as a con man...
The fact that this magical romance has been retitled A New York Winter's Tale in...
Peter Lake is a wanted burglar in a desperate struggle to escape an old gangster...
Cypher Raige is a renowned military general who finds himself and his frightened 13-year-old son...