Will Smith Pulls “Emancipation” Movie on Slavery out of Georgia in Protest Over Voter Integrity Law
The upcoming Will Smith movie, Emancipation, which is being funded by Apple Studios, announced that they will not be filming in Georgia as originally planned due to the recent voter integrity bill being passed and signed into law.
Will Smith and film director Antoine Fuqua released a statement to Deadline, which first broke the story Monday.
Smith and Fuqua claimed they could not “in good conscience provide economic support” to the state.
“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. 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.”
The movie Emancipation plans to tell the true story of a runaway slave (Will Smith) who travels north and joins the Union Army.
Deadline reported the movie is now most likely going to shoot in Louisiana, where the story’s historical events took place.
The decision to move the film out of state will deprive countless blue collar workers in Georgia of work on a major studio film.
While some Hollywood elites and Major League Baseball have announced their decision to boycott Georgia, Emancipation is the first major title to publicly cancel plans to film in the peach state.