Pressure is mounting for the Sultan of Brunei as Hollywood galvanises over barbaric anti-gay laws.

The council joined Ellen DeGeneres and Jay Leno calling for a boycott of the legendary Beverly Hills Hotel, which is owned by the Sultan of Brunei, Hassanal Bolkiah, who last week introduced death by stoning for homosexuality and adultery.

The iconic pink hotel, which opened in 1912, is a celebrated part of Los Angeles life. Elizabeth Taylor lived there as a child and also as an adult with Richard Burton.

Reclusive billionaire, Howard Hughes stayed there on and off for about 30 years and more recently you could bump into Tom Cruise or Ozzy Osbourne in the foyer.

According to the Los Angeles Times, the Beverley Hills City Council unanimously approved a resolution Tuesday night urging the government of Brunei to divest itself of the Beverly Hills Hotel and other properties in the area.

The council was divided, however, on whether to boycott the hotel, the BBC reports, which employs 600 people, and pays about $13 million in taxes annually.

Several organisations have cancelled events at the hotel, including the Motion Picture & Television Fund’s annual Night Before the Oscars charity event and the Feminist Majority Foundation’s annual Global Women’s Rights Awards.

“They won’t stop the implementation of the new laws,” Christopher Cowdray, the hotel group’s chief executive said of the boycotts and protest but rather would “only hurt the [hotel’s] employees.”

Cowdray added that Brunei had no plans to sell the hotels.