Amid the opulent surroundings of the Polo Lounge at the Beverly Hills Hotel, for decades the scene of Hollywood power lunches and celebrity tete-a-tetes [sic], a pall has descended.
Secluded booths once occupied by A-listers who stepped in from Sunset Boulevard lie empty as waiters stand idly by under the green-striped ceiling, listening to a pianist play Coldplay's Viva La Vida.
The lounge, once frequented by stars from Elizabeth Taylor and Marlene Dietrich to Leonardo DiCaprio and Tom Cruise, has become an unfortunate casualty of a movie industry boycott aimed at the Sultan of Brunei, the hotel's ultimate owner.
Last week Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah confirmed he was pushing ahead with a plan to introduce Sharia law for the 70 per cent of his 400,000 subjects who are Muslims, and the first phase came into effect on Thursday.
Unsurprisingly, the prospect of punishments such as death by stoning for adultery and same-sex relationships, amputations by sword for theft, and 40 lashes from a rattan cane for drunkenness, has not gone down well in Hollywood and the Sultan has been unofficially declared persona non grata. Read on and comment » | Nick Allen, Los Angeles | Saturday, May 10, 2014
My comment:
I wonder what Prince Charles has to say about the introduction of full sharia'h law in the Sultanate of Brunei? After all, the Sultan is one of Prince Charles' big chums. – © Mark
This comment appears here too.
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