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Will Smith Movie ‘Emancipation’ Pulls Out of Georgia Over Voting Rules

“We cannot in good conscience provide economic support to a government that enacts regressive voting laws that are designed to restrict voter access.”

Georgia’s new voting restrictions have prompted director Antoine Fuqua and Will Smith to yank production of their new movie out of the state. Emancipation, which was bought by Apple Studios for $120 million, features Smith as a man who has escaped enslavement. “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,” Fuqua and Smith said in a statement, according to Variety. “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.” Other filmmakers have also vowed to boycott Georgia, which is under fire from major corporations.