By Jason Hopkins
Several Hollywood actors have called for a boycott of Georgia’s film industry after Republican Brian Kemp officially won the state’s gubernatorial contest.
There are over 20 productions shooting in Georgia.
Is the entertainment industry willing to support the economy of a totally corrupt state that suppresses democracy; where the winner isn’t the best choice for the people but the best schemer or crook?
— Alyssa Milano (@Alyssa_Milano) November 17, 2018
Will this presidential election be the most important in American history?
https://twitter.com/perlmutations/status/1063829163398828037
The hashtag #boycottgeorgia began to trend after Stacey Abrams, a former Democratic state representative and romance novelist, announced Friday that she would no longer challenge the Georgia Secretary of State’s election results. While Abrams acknowledged Kemp would be the winner of the election, she refused to call her speech a “concession” because a “concession means to acknowledge an action is right, true, or proper.”
Before Kemp was certified as the official victor, actors were already threatening to boycott working in Georgia, a state with a large film industry that’s been dubbed the Hollywood of the South.
Brian Kemp is a corrupt, homophobic, unapologetic disenfranchiser of African American voters. If he seizes power, Hollywood needs to use it’s leverage and pull out of Georgia. Studios need to put their money where their mouth is and stand up to hate. #boycottgeorgia
— Bradley Whitford (@WhitfordBradley) November 8, 2018
Hundred percent agreed.
Billions of Hollywood dollars spent and created in GA. We can do something about this.#boycottgeorgia https://t.co/S4AIxboFR4
— steven pasquale (@StevePasquale) November 8, 2018
The reaction from Hollywood comes after Abrams has continued to argue, without evidence, that Kemp purposely suppressed black voters while he led the Georgia Secretary of State’s office. Abrams mounted several lawsuits over the election results and repeatedly declared she wouldn’t admit defeat until every vote was counted.
Abrams has since responded to the calls for a boycott, saying that while she appreciates Hollywood’s calls for action, she does not want them to hurt people who make a living in the state’s film industry. Instead, the Democratic politician wants them to get involved in a new voting rights organization she is launching called “Fair Fight Georgia.”
I appreciate the calls to action, but I ask all of our entertainment industry friends to support #FairFightGA – but please do not #boycottgeorgia. The hard-working Georgians who serve on crews & make a living here are not to blame. I promise: We will fight – and we will win.
— Stacey Abrams (@staceyabrams) November 18, 2018
In a Sunday morning interview with CNN’s Jake Tapper, Abrams refused to call Kemp a “legitimate” governor and claimed there was “a deliberate and intentional disinvestment and I think destruction of the administration of elections in the state of Georgia.”
Abrams said during the interview that she plans on running for office again.
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