The Hollywood campaign calling on
Georgia Governor Nathan Deal to veto an anti-gay bill approved by
lawmaker gained major traction on Thursday.
The Free Exercise Protection Act (House
Bill 757) would allow faith-based organizations to not hire or
provide services to people who “violate” its sincerely held
religious beliefs.
Disney, AMC and Marvel on Wednesday
were the first to threaten a boycott of the state over the bill or
call on Deal to veto the legislation.
Dozens of stars and industry leaders
joined the fight on Thursday.
Anne Hathaway, Julianne Moore, Lee
Daniels, Ryan Murphy, the Weinstein brothers and dozens more added
their names to a letter calling on Deal to reject the bill.
“As leaders in the entertainment
industry, we have deep concerns about HB 757, which would sanction
discrimination against LGBT people and others in Georgia,” the
letter reads in part.
Studios and networks piled on, issuing
releases throughout the day.
“We would be disappointed to see our
pipeline of production end at the Georgia border because of this
legislation,” said Amblin Partners, the studio helmed by Steven
Spielberg.
Netflix was blunt in its response,
saying that two planned projects would be moved out of Georgia if the
bill becomes law.
CBS, Starz, Lionsgate, Sony, 21st
Century Fox, NBCUniversal, Discovery, Viacom, MGM and Open Road Films
also expressed their opposition to the bill.
Time Warner, which owns HBO, Warner
Bros, CNN and Turner, said in a statement that “diversity in all
its forms is core to our value system and to the success of our
business.”
“We strongly oppose the
discriminatory language and intent of Georgia's pending religious
liberty bill, which clearly violates the values and principles of
inclusion and the ability of all people to live and work free from
discrimination,” Time Warner said.