Georgia’s General Assembly is not alone in passing a religious liberty bill.
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AMC, creator of the hit show The Walking Dead has also commented on the law.
While not directly addressing economic impact of the Hollywood pulling out of Georgia, Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed is far less reserved in addressing the potential dire costs of signing the Free Exercise Protection Act (HB 757).
Almost three dozen actors, directors, writers and producers said in a letter addressed to Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal (R) on Thursday that the state would lose their business if he signs a religious liberty bill into law.
The bill is awaiting Republican Governor Nathan Deal’s signature.
Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff, who helped lead the fight against a similar law in IN, has threatened to reduce investment in Georgia and move his company’s Salesforce Connections conference out of the state.
The NFL has also warned the bill’s passage could derail Atlanta’ s plans to host the Super Bowl as early as 2019.
“We are confident that Governor Deal will not allow a discriminatory bill to become law in Georgia”, Stevenson noted. The state has provided numerous tax breaks for moviemakers, which is why many Hollywood films have been shot there in recent years.
By Thursday, the floodgates had opened, with every major Hollywood studio either joining the boycott or calling on Deal to veto the legislation.
Home business Harvey Weinstein Will Pull Richard Pryor Bio Pic from Georgia if Anti-Gay… “However, I am certainly heartened that so many companies, executives and individuals associated specifically with the entertainment industry have spoken in opposition to legislation that clearly has the intent to discriminate against the LGBT community”.
“If you have a business that is essentially trying to get the benefit of saying ‘Look at how inclusive and how tolerant our business is, ‘ but is not following that policy in practice, we felt like there should be some teeth to enforce those policies”, McKoon said.
Deal has until May 3 to make his decision.
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Most of the measures passed by the Georgia Legislature this year now go to Deal for approval. One other attractive element is Georgia does not have tough restrictions on hiring local crew. “We can’t have a program – a major conference or a major employment surge – in Georgia when it becomes a discriminatory state”, Benioff told CNN. But this isn’t to say they’re happy or okay with it. “As a company, AMC Networks believes that discrimination of any kind is reprehensible”, the network said in a released statement.
