Lots of hub bub in Georgia as Will Smith and Antoine Fuqua pull their film “Emancipation” out of production in Georgia, while Stacey Abrams and Tyler Perry have urged other filmmakers not to pull their projects out of the state. New York Times:

The slavery-era drama, which is being produced and financed by Apple Studios, is the first major production to cite the law as a reason to leave the state, which offers generous tax incentives to Hollywood productions and has become a major hub for Marvel Studios, Netflix and other industry heavyweights.

“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,” Mr. Smith and Mr. Fuqua said in a joint statement. “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.”

In the film, set to begin production this summer, Mr. Smith was set to play the real-life enslaved man named Peter, who emancipated himself from a Southern plantation and joined the Union Army. His story became famous after photographs of his back, scarred by whippings, appeared in the pages of Harper’s Weekly.

It will be interesting to see what develops next, if Georgia takes the high road and stops with the draconian voting restrictions or if it prefers to lose a lot of revenue and gain more bad press.

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3 COMMENTS

  1. Doesn’t surprise me about this coming from Antoine Fuqua. The opening of his version of The Magnificent Seven all but channeled the kind of oppression this country has gotten familiar with through BLM.

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