R&B singer John Legend stands by his beliefs and principles, not just talk about them. John Legend confirmed today that he will not be attending a pre-Grammys party hosted by entertainment magazine L.A. Confidential. The star-studded celebration was set to be massive spectacle at Los Angeles’s Beverly Hills Hotel, but Legend, who graced the cover of Confidential’s most recent issue, made it a political decision, objecting to the “horrific anti-women and anti-LGBT policies approved by the hotel’s owner, the Sultan of Brunei.”
Brunei is a tiny sovereign state bordering Borneo in Southeast Asia, and its leader, Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah recently passed strict sharia law that would sanction the stoning of women and LBGT Brunei citizens, in some cases fatally. Billboard reports that the Sultan’s policies infuriated Legend, who wants no part of any soireé held under the roof of a misogynist, homophobic leader. The R&B singer’s rep told Billboard and The Hollywood Reporter that Bolkiah’s laws “are heinous and certainly don’t represent John’s values or the spirit of the event. John does not, in any way, wish to further enrich the Sultan while he continues to enforce these brutal laws.”
This is not the first time the famous Beverly Hills Hotel has been boycotted by human rights activist and socially-conscious artists since the Burnei Sultan’s new laws were put in place April of 2014. L.A. Confidential appears to has already added Common, Diplo, Paul Oakenfold and many other stars to the party’s guest list. We shall see if the party goes on, stay tuned.
