Anna Wintour joins hotel boycott over Sharia anti-gay laws
The editor of US Vogue is refusing to stay at Le Meurice hotel during Paris Fashion Week in protest against its owner, the Sultan of Brunei, for implementing anti-gay laws in his native country.
In a statement issued to the New York Times, she said, “While I am sensitive to the potential impact that this issue may have on the wonderful staff at Le Meurice, I cannot in all good conscience stay there, nor can Vogue’s editors.”
The 64-year-old, nicknamed “Nuclear” for her cool demeanour, is the latest in a string of high-profile names, including Stephen Fry, Sir Richard Branson and Ellen Degeneres, to blacklist the Dorchester Collection hotel chain in light of its owner Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah embracing an extreme Sharia law penal code that calls for both homosexuality and adultery to be punishable by death.
Few countries follow such a conservative rule as Brunei, where alcohol is banned and Muslim courts control family affairs.
It has started introducing its own version of Sharia law, with penalties including amputation for thieves, and stoning for adultery. The harshest punishments – amputation, flogging and stoning – will begin during the next two years.
It is unclear where Wintour will stay in the end but with the Hôtel de Crillon and the Ritz, two equally luxurious boltholes closed for refurbishment, the price she will pay for making a political stand will probably be far less glamorous digs than usual.