This article has been adjusted since it’s initial publication.
Comedian-turned-director Jordan Peele has made a lucrative career out of exploiting America’s racial divide for profit with movies like “Get Out” and episodes of “The Twilight Zone.” Don’t expect him to highlight the fact that more black babies are aborted in New York City than allowed born or the fact that American taxpayer dollars go to an organization founded by a racist eugenicist.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Jordan Peele and director J.J. Abrams (the man who transformed “Star Wars” into a feminist empowerment vehicle) both released a statement that their HBO drama “Lovecraft County” will be shooting in Georgia as scheduled while they fight the newly enacted law.
“In a few weeks we start shooting our new show, ‘Lovecraft Country’ and will do so standing shoulder to shoulder with the women of Georgia,” the directors said in a joint statement. “Governor Kemp’s ‘Fetal Heartbeat’ Abortion Law is an unconstitutional effort to further restrict women and their health providers from making private medical decisions on their terms. Make no mistake, this is an attack aimed squarely and purposely at women.”
Abrams went on to say that his company Bad Robot and Peele’s Monkeypaw Productions will be donating funds to combat the legislation.
“We stand with Stacey Abrams and the hardworking people of Georgia, and will donate 100 percent of our respective episodic fees for this season to two organizations leading the charge against this draconian law: the ACLU of Georgia and Fair Fight Georgia,” he said. “We encourage those who are able to funnel any and all resources to these organizations.”
What is most interesting about Peele and Abrams denouncing the bill as some kind of affront to women is the fact women were the bill’s primary sponsors. From LifeNews:
Four of the seven major sponsors of the legislation were women including the lead sponsor in the Senate, Senator Renee Unterman. In fact Unterman called passage of the legislation in the upper chamber of the Georgia legislature the “pinnacle of her legislative career.“
Unterman told the story of having a hysterectomy when she was in her 20s.
“I adopted two children and only by the courageous abilities of those birth mothers to give up those children,” she said. “That was my journey that started me on being so pro-life.”
Unterman went on to slam the Hollywood elites who threatened to boycott the state because of the heartbeat bill.
“We’re very proud of the movie industry,” she said. “But we have our values, and we’re going to protect our values. They knew when they came here what we are and who we are.”
Jordan Peele, who recently said he would not cast a white male lead in his movies, and J.J. Abrams join alongside four production companies who announced on Thursday that they would be boycotting the state of Georgia for the same law.
Christine Vachon, CEO of Killer Films, which produced films like “Vox Lux” and “First Reformed,” announced that the company will “no longer consider Georgia as a viable shooting location until this ridiculous law is overturned.”
David Simon, who runs Blown Deadline Productions and who created “The Wire” and “The Deuce,” said that he could not in good conscience ask any female under his employment to shoot in Georgia.
“I can’t ask any female member of any film production with which I am involved to so marginalize themselves or compromise their inalienable authority over their own bodies. I must undertake production where the rights of all citizens remain intact,” Simon said in a tweet.
“Can only speak for my production company. Our comparative assessments of locations for upcoming development will pull Georgia off the list until we can be assured the health options and civil liberties of our female colleagues are unimpaired,” he continued.
Simultaneously, Mark Duplass of Duplass Brothers Productions urged other companies on Thursday to blackball Georgia.
“Don’t give your business to Georgia,” he wrote. “Will you pledge with me not to film anything in Georgia until they reverse this backwards legislation?”
Later, CounterNarrative films, which produced the Netflix movie “Triple Frontier,” said that it will no longer shoot in Georgia. “No Georgia filming on any of our projects until this law is gone,” wrote producer Neal Dodson on Twitter.
NOTE: The original article said that Abrams and Peele would not be shooting their series “Lovecraft County” in Georgia. That was inaccurate. The series will go forward as planned as they contribute to the anti-Georgia effort.
