Stone-the-Gays Sultan May Expand Hotel Empire to NYC

Hassanal Bolkiah, Brunei's sadistic sultan, already has his mitts on two luxury hotels in Los Angeles and now he's setting his sights on the Big Apple.

The Human Rights Campaign is urging New Yorkers to demand the sultan stay out of their city — his Brunei investment company already owns 10 luxury hotels in California, England, Paris, Geneva, Milan, and Rome. In a November interview, the CEO of the sultan's hotel empire, called the Dorchester Collection, said they're on the hunt for a New York property.

"We would like to be in New York and that's really our key focus," CEO Christopher Cowdray told Bloomberg in November, adding that Asia is also in their expansion plans. Regarding the New York hotel, Cowdray, who refuses to condemn the sultan's law that allows the stoning of gays and women, said this week he doesn't expect to encounter any problems in New York.

HRC president Chad Griffin hopes otherwise. “The Sultan of Brunei could start executing LGBT citizens as soon as next year,” Griffin said in a statement. “New Yorkers from all walks of life should have one simple and straight-forward message for the Sultan: take your business elsewhere."