Los Angeles (USA) (EFE) .- The actor and producer Will Smith will not shoot his next film, “Emancipation”, in the state of Georgia (USA) as a protest for the controversial electoral reform that has just been pass Republican legislators.
“In conscience, we cannot financially support a government that enacts regressive voting laws that are designed to restrict voter access,” said the actor on Monday in a statement with the director of the film, Antoine Fuqua.
In recent years, Georgia has become a very attractive production center for the film industry, thanks to the tax advantages it offers.
Some dubbed this state the “Hollywood of the American South.” and the arrival of professionals from the creative sector is one of the reasons given by experts to explain the demographic change it has experienced, which was evidenced by giving victory to the Democrats in the last elections.
According to Smith and Fuqua, the electoral reform approved by the Republicans after those elections is “reminiscent of the impediments to suffrage” that existed on previous occasions and that “deprived many Americans of the vote.”
“At this moment, the country is assuming its history and is trying to eliminate the vestiges of institutional racism to achieve true justice,” they reasoned.
The rejection of the film industry adds to the rejection expressed by large companies such as Coca Cola, Apple and Delta, which also operate in Georgia.
According to its detractors, the electoral reform approved by the Republicans limits the right to vote because it adds new requirements in case of wanting to do so by mail, imposes more demands when registering and identifying themselves and prohibits actions such as giving food and drink to voters who they wait in long lines to deposit their ballot in crowded centers, among other provisions.
Voting by mail was essential in the last general elections due to the pandemic, and it was the favorite target of former President Donald Trump (2017-2021), who did not stop criticizing it and considering it, without evidence, a source of electoral fraud.
A hundred US business leaders discussed their response to the list of electoral reforms being pushed by Republican lawmakers in 47 states this weekend.
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