The Sultan of Brunei, Hassanal Bolkiah, introduced Sharia law into his country in October 2013. This means that “stoning, amputation or flogging of those found guilty of adultery or homosexuality” is okay. Nice. Ellen, Elton John and Sharon Osbourne tweeted enough about it that the news went viral pretty fast. The Sultan also happens to own the Beverly Hills Hotel in LA, and the celebs of Hollywood are not happy about that.

John Legend is supposed to be attending the Los Angeles Confidential party this evening at the hotel, but his publicist, Amanda Silverman, has said that John won’t be attending.

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. John does not, in any way, wish to further enrich the Sultan while he continues to enforce these brutal laws.

Los Angeles Confidential has been urged by the Human Rights Campaign to host the party at a hotel not owned by the Sultan. They are, however, going ahead with it. The head of Niche Media Holdings (who owns Los Angeles Confidential) has explained:

To boycott all companies and hotels with affiliations and ownership in nations that do not share our beliefs would cause serious financial harm and damage to the Los Angeles community and the American economy.

[Source: CNN]