Director Michael Moore urges boycott of Georgia over Troy Davis execution

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By Christopher Seward

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Controversial filmmaker Michael Moore is calling for an economic boycott of Georgia over this week’s execution of Troy Anthony Davis.

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Academy Award winning director and author Michael Moore says he will "donate every dime of every royalty my book makes in Georgia to help defeat the racists and killers who run that state."

Special Academy Award winning director and author Michael Moore says he will "donate every dime of every royalty my book makes in Georgia to help defeat the racists and killers who run that state."

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“I encourage everyone I know to never travel to Georgia, never buy anything made in Georgia, [and] to never do business in Georgia,” Moore said on his website this week.

The Academy-Award winning filmmaker and best-selling author also called on his publisher to pull his memoir, “Here Comes Trouble,” from every Georgia bookstore.

If Grand Central Publishing doesn’t pull the 427-page book, Moore said he will “donate every dime of every royalty my book makes in Georgia to help defeat the racists and killers who run that state.”

Brian Robinson, a spokesman for Gov. Nathan Deal, found the filmmaker’s rant amusing.

“We think it’s cute that he thinks anyone in Georgia would buy his book, but if any Georgian does, I’m happy to double the royalties and buy a pack of gum for a charity of Michael Moore’s choice,” Robinson told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

A spokeswoman for the Georgia Chamber of Commerce said the group had no comment.

Davis, who maintained his innocence until the end, was executed late Wednesday at the state prison in Jackson. He was put to death for the 1989 murder of off-duty Savannah Police Officer Mark Allen MacPhail, a father of two young children and a former Army Ranger.

After the execution, MacPhail's family said justice had been served after 20 years of waiting for the officer's killer to be punished for the fatal shooting.

Moore was among several figures in the entertainment industry who lashed out against the state for the execution.

“I ask all Americans with a conscience to shun anything and everything to do with the murderous state of Georgia,” the filmmaker said in his Thursday statement.

-- Staff writer Aaron Gould Sheinin contributed to this report.