A big name actor-turned-producer says he will not film his upcoming movie in Georgia after the state passed a voter integrity law requiring identification to vote with an absentee ballot.
“Antoine Fuqua and Will Smith will move production on their big-budget, runaway slave thriller ‘Emancipation’ out of Georgia in protest over the state’s controversial new voting restrictions,” NBC reported.
Smith, a former rapper and lead actor in blockbuster films “Ali” and “The Pursuit of Happyness,” is set to produce the film, and Fuqua will direct it.
The pair released a joint statement about moving the film’s shooting location:
“At this moment in time, the Nation is coming to terms with its history and is attempting to eliminate vestiges of institutional racism to achieve true racial justice. We cannot in good conscience provide economic support to a government that enacts regressive voting laws that are designed to restrict voter access. The new Georgia voting laws are reminiscent of voting impediments that were passed at the end of Reconstruction to prevent many Americans from voting. Regrettably, we feel compelled to move our film production work from Georgia to another state.”
Hollywood’s first major boycott of the Peach State follows Major League Baseball’s decision to move its 2021 All-Star game from Atlanta to Colorado.
Last week, the famed Masters Tournament, perhaps golf’s most high-profile event, was played in Augusta despite calls for the Professional Golf Association to boycott the state.
Some professional golfers denounced the voter integrity law.
Rory McIlroy, a star golfer from Ireland, was one of them.
“I have to be respectful and somewhat careful what I say because I’m not a citizen of this country, but I certainly think all great countries and democracies are built on equal voting rights and everyone being able to get to the ballot boxes as easily as possible.
I’m all for getting people to get out and vote and to have a great democracy, and I’ve chosen to live in this country because I believe this country is the best country in the world. You know, America is the land of opportunity and it’s the American dream. You work hard; you get rewarded. So I believe in all of that stuff.
But yeah, I’m all for people being able to have the right to vote and to be able to do it in the easiest way possible.”
McIlroy missed the cut at The Masters after two shabby rounds of golf on Thursday and Friday.
Left-wing activists claim that the new law disenfranchises Black Americans, because it requires photo identification, which they claim Black Americans cannot easily obtain.
Right wing activists contend that showing identification is a common sense form of voter integrity, and that Black Americans are just as capable of obtaining identification as any other Americans.
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Pete D’Abrosca is a contributor at The Georgia Star News and The Star News Network. Follow Pete on Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Will Smith” by Gage Skidmore. CC BY-SA 2.0.
