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Maroon 5 dumps North Carolina: ‘We feel everyone should be treated equally’
Maroon 5 won’t be playing concerts in North Carolina.
The band has announced that it has canceled upcoming shows in Charlotte and Raleigh because of House Bill 2, the state’s new anti-LGBT law.
‘This was a difficult decision for us to make as a band,’ they said on their website.
‘We don’t want to penalize our fans in North Carolina by not performing for them, but in the end it comes down to what we feel is morally right as WE FEEL EVERYONE SHOULD BE TREATED EQUALLY.’
The controversial law removes local legal protections for LGBT people and prohibits transgender people from using public facilities that correspond to their gender identity.
The federal government is suing the state and its governor, Pat McCrory, for implementing the controversial law which has pushed the issue of bathroom bills to the forefront.
So far, McCrory has continued to defend the law.
Maroon 5 Lead singer Adam Levine has a brother, Michael, who is gay.
‘I can single-handedly dispel any ideas that sexuality is acquired,’ he once said in an interview.
‘Trust me, you’re born with it. My brother is gay, and we knew when he was two. We all knew.’
His band is the latest is a growing list of high-profile acts to cancel concerts in North Carolina.
Bruce Springsteen, Pearl Jam, Ringo Starr, Nick Jonas, Demi Lovato and Itzhak Perlman have also canceled concerts in protest.
Comments
(All comments are reviewed before being published, and I review submissions several times per day.)
K. Martinez says:
Good for them.
Tommy Marx says:
As someone who lives in North Carolina and has been struggling for months with my anger and disgust for Pat McCrory, Kathy Harrington, and the other Republicans that legalized hatred and bigotry, one of the only sources of hope and encouragement has been acts like Bruce Springsteen, Pearl Jam, and Maroon V refusing to perform here.
And yes, it also bothers me when artists choose to perform in North Carolina but make a statement against anti-gay laws. Beyonce played in North Carolina, and sure enough, Pat McCrory has been using her as an example of a “good” artist that ignores all the “hype”.
And yes, I bought “She’s So Unusual” and “True Colors” both as an LP and as a CD, I bought “A Night To Remember” and “Hat Full of Stars” as both a cassette and later as a CD, and I bought “Twelve Deadly Cyns”, “Sisters of Avalon”, “Shine”, “At Last”, “The Body Acoustic” and “Bring Ya to the Brink” on CD, but I will never purchase another Cyndi Lauper album again. I am thankful to her for everything she has done for equality – and she has done far more than most – but she, too, chose to play in North Carolina. And while I respect her choice, I choose to stop following her career. To me, regardless of what she said or where her profits went, by playing in North Carolina she supported a state that makes it illegal for any city or county to protect gays from being fired, evicted, and discriminated against.
I know I’m probably being unfair, but I live in a state where the people elected to take care of its citizens had an emergency meeting costing the state thousands and thousands of dollars to specifically ban protection against gays and lesbians and single out transgendered people for humiliation and ridicule, and every artist has the right to play in North Carolina and support that evil, but I have the right to stop purchasing their art.
Tommy Marx
Charlotte, NC
Ron says:
Tommy, I agree with you totally…. I live in Alabama, so I’ll leave it at that……