Star Wars’ Mark Hamill pledges not to film in Georgia over state’s GOP-backed election law

Corporate leaders have condemned the measure as ‘unacceptable’ due to how it restricts voting rights

Star Wars star Mark Hamill has pledged not to film any movies in Georgia after the state passed widely criticised voting legislation.

The actor recently shared a question asking whether people would be willing to boycott the state over the new law. He wrote: “ABSOLUTELY!” and added the hashtag #NoMoreFilminginGeorgia.

Hamill reacted after James Mangold, the influential director of films such as Ford v Ferrari, The Wolverine, and Girl, Interrupted, took a similar pledge.

“I will not direct a film in Georgia,” Mangold tweeted last week, on the day Republican Governor Brian Kemp signed the legislation into law.

The new election law is one of a number of proposed bills backed by the GOP seeking to change election rules in the wake of Donald Trump’s false claims during the 2020 presidential election.

Civil rights activist have condemned the Georgia law as a threat to voting rights and ballot access. Among the changes introduced by the law are new access requirements for absentee ballots, and a ban on handing out food and water to people waiting in a voting line. The law also increases the power of the State Election Board over county election officials.

The CEOs of Delta Air Lines and Coca-Cola, which are both headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, have denounced the legislation.

Delta CEO Ed Bastian called the final bill “unacceptable” in a memo to employees published by the company, writing: “The entire rationale for this bill was based on a lie: that there was widespread voter fraud in Georgia in the 2020 elections. This is simply not true.

“Unfortunately, that excuse is being used in states across the nation that are attempting to pass similar legislation to restrict voting rights.”

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Coca-Cola CEO James Quincey called the law “unacceptable” on CNBC on Wednesday, adding: “It is a step backwards and it does not promote principles we have stood for in Georgia around broad access to voting, around voter convenience, about ensuring election integrity and this is, this is frankly just a step backwards. ...This legislation is wrong and needs to be remedied and we will continue to advocate for it both in private and now even more clearly in public.”