Bruce Springsteen Cancels North Carolina Concert Over Anti-LGBT Law
The Boss says the fight against HB2 is “more important than a rock show.”
CHRIS PIZZELLO/INVISION/AP “I feel that this is a time for me and the band to show solidarity for those freedom fighters,” Bruce Springsteen said. The Boss, 66, has been thrilling audiences across the country on The River Tour with his E Street Band since the start of the year.
Although he and his bandmates had been slated to perform at the Greensboro Coliseum on April 10, Springsteen announced Friday that he was canceling the show following North Carolina’s passage of House Bill 2, or HB2, last month. Springsteen blasted the new legislation, which Gov. Pat McCrory signed into law March 23, in a lengthy statement on his official website April 8.
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“HB2 — known officially as the Public Facilities Privacy and Security Act — dictates which bathrooms transgender people are permitted to use,” Springsteen wrote in the statement . “Just as important, the law also attacks the rights of LGBT citizens to sue when their human rights are violated in the workplace. No other group of North Carolinians faces such a burden.”
Calling the law “an attempt by people who cannot stand the progress our country has made in recognizing the human rights of all of our citizens to overturn that progress,” he added, “Some things are more important than a rock show and this fight against prejudice and bigotry — which is happening as I write — is one of them.”
Canceling the concert, he said, is “the strongest means I have for raising my voice in opposition to those who continue to push us backwards instead of forwards.”
And he's not alone in this:
The legendary rocker is the latest to join a growing chorus of celebrities and public figures who’ve spoken out against HB2. On April 3, basketball legend Charles Barkley cited the law when he called for the NBA to relocate its 2017 All-Star Game , which is slated to take place in Charlotte, in an interview with CNN .
Meanwhile, stage and screen composer Stephen Schwartz has said he’ll deny the production rights to his Broadway musicals, including “Wicked,” to all North Carolina-based theaters and performing arts groups until the law is repealed.
This is just the beginning...
The states surrounding North Carolina should build a "separation barrier" to protect their citizens from the scourge.
And better yet-- they should make North Carolina pay for it!!!
Good on 'em !
I'm sure there is more coming. The liberals have to come out of the woodwork on this one.
We have the State of Washington that has banned official state employee travel to both NC and Ole Miss also becasue of their stances on bathroom usage as relates to males using the female facilities. The basis of which is the prejudice attitudes against the LGBQ community.
Lemme Ask a question?
Washington State is part of the Pacific rim trade circle, we have trade delegations all over the pacific including China, India, Japan, Korea, The Philippines, etc etc etc......
ALL of those states clearly have strong laws making LGBQ outright ILLEGAL! With VERY strong penalties (including the death penalty in some) for being LGBQ.
Why doesn't Washington State ban all non-essential travel to those states?
LOSS OF REVENUE, MONEY, TRADE WORTH BILLIONS.
It's easy to make political statements that are meaningless and cost you NOTHING.
But it is also nice to know, that when it comes to rabble rousing nothingness, Democrats lead the pack.
When it comes to making stances that actually mean something, they are nowhere to be found, money being more important.
Barkley, who got mad when Trump wanted to screen Muslims coming into this country, is now mad because a state wants to make people use the bathroom their gender determines? Is he also shunning his Muslim friends whose religion calls for these same gays to be put to death?
When all else is said and done the market place will prevail.
'ZACTLY Pat!
That's why they couldn't stop pot the black market is always one step ahead of the crooked politicians.
Good news now if they can get Ted Nugent to fill that slot it will be a win win for the people of NC.