Will Smith's upcoming movie "Emancipation" will move production on their runaway slave thriller out of Georgia in protest over the state's newly passed restrictions on voting, BBC said Tuesday.
The announcement continues the economic fallout from Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp and the state council's ruling to pass new policies that critics say is tantamount to voter suppression intended to cut the turnout of people of color.
"We cannot in good conscience provide economic support to a government that enacts regressive voting laws that are designed to restrict voter access," Variety quoted Smith and director Antoine Fuqua as saying in a statement.
Georgia's new voting laws are reminiscent of voting deterrents that were enacted at the end of the Reconstruction to prevent many Americans from exercising their rights to vote, Smith and Fuqua said. The film is reportedly looking to shoot in Louisiana.
Widely criticized as undemocratic and racist, Georgia's new law includes ID requirements for voters and prohibits ballot drop boxes, among other strict regulations.
More than two weeks since Kemp signed the Election Integrity Act into law, companies like Coca Cola and Delta have voiced their concern and said it disenfranchises people, while Major League Baseball announced it was canceling the All-Star Game in Georgia this season.
Emancipation, which was set to start shooting June 21, stars Smith as the main character Peter, a fugitive from slavery who is fleeing Louisiana in hopes of traveling north to freedom. Fuqua directs the movie from a script by William N. Collage.
Smith's media company Westbrook Inc. and Fuqua Films are backing the movie, which Apple Studios acquired in a deal reportedly worth around $120 million.
Georgia generates more than $10 billion a year from films and television productions, and the state's voting-rights proponents like Stacey Abrams -who opposes the state's new regulations -- has urged Hollywood not to walk away en masse.
Emancipation is the first major production to abandon the state since the new election laws were enforced, but others could pull out as well.
