(Los Angeles) Upcoming Will Smith movie, Release, Which is devoted to the history of slavery in the United States, will not be filmed as planned in Georgia, in protest of a law recently passed in that state that, according to its critics, limits access to the polls for minorities and especially African-American voters.
Thanks to large tax incentives, in recent years Georgia has become one of the main filming locations in the United States, hosting for example Marvel films or series. the walking Dead.
But the adoption of the text last month that is supposed to combat electoral fraud, especially by strengthening controls over the identity of voters who vote by mail, sparked a wave of criticism and calls for a boycott of the economic or sports sectors.
Will Smith and Antoine Fuqua, DirectorReleaseOn Monday, I decided to join this protest movement. “We cannot, in our hearts and souls, provide economic support to an executive power imposing backward electoral laws aimed at restricting access to the polls. […] “We regret that we are forced to transfer our film production business from Georgia to another country,” the artists wrote in a statement sent to Agence France-Presse.
In addition to enhanced identity checks, the text signed by the Republican governor of Georgia also prohibits the distribution of water or food in long lines on polling days, and limits the number of ballot boxes installed in the street to drop ballot papers.
Critics of the law have compared its provisions to restrictions imposed by the so-called “Jim Crow” apartheid laws, introduced by many southern states after the Civil War to limit the right to vote for African Americans.
Georgia’s new electoral provisions “remind of the obstacles to voting that were adopted at the end of Reconstruction to prevent many Americans from voting,” so Will Smith and Antoine Fuqua think, the latter of which is particularly well known for his movie. Training day.
In Georgia, where the wounds of slavery and apartheid still survive, it was thanks to record mobilization, especially for black voters, that President Joe Biden won in November 2020. A contested victory in this state by Donald Trump, who wrongly claimed was a victim of electoral fraud. .
In protest against the new arrangement, Major Baseball announced last Friday that the All-Star Game, scheduled for July 13 in Georgia’s capital, Atlanta, will finally be held in another state.
Private companies such as Coca-Cola and Delta Airlines, which provide many jobs in Georgia, also publicly denounced the law.
Even the decision by Will Smith and Antoine Fuqua, boycott calls did not find much resonance in Hollywood, except for some angry tweets like those by James Mangold, who will recognize the next installment of the adventures of Indiana Jones, or the actor. Mark Hamill, who plays Luke Skywalker in the saga star Wars.
