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Maroon 5 cancels show over HB2; local leaders to announce boycott

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Some local leaders are expected to announce a boycott against Charlotte businesses supporting House Bill 2.

The law, in part, says that people can only use the public bathroom that matches their biological sex.

The former president of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg NAACP and the spokesperson for the Islamic Center of Charlotte will make the announcement Friday.

On Thursday, the coalition “Women for Repeal of HB2” came together in uptown, saying the law hurts women.

Gov. Pat McCrory and other supporters say the bathroom portion of the law protects women, but the groups disagree, claiming that a part of the law allows wage discrimination and denies women the right to sue for discrimination in state courts.

The groups called on the state to repeal the bill immediately and claim the majority of women in the state oppose the bill.

Also Friday morning, the Lake Norman Chamber of Commerce will look at the law during its May “Focus Friday” program.

The president of the chamber, Bill Russell, said he's worried about the overall impact on businesses from HB2.

North Carolina senators Jeff Tarte and Joel Ford will speak at the event, which begins at 8:30 a.m. on West Catawba Avenue.

Maroon 5 cancels show over HB2

Another group has canceled a concert in North Carolina over HB2.

Maroon 5 was supposed to play in Charlotte and Raleigh in September but canceled the shows.

The pop rock band released a statement, saying it was a difficult decision and that “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."

Multiple other groups including Bruce Springsteen and Pearl Jam have also canceled shows.

Other artists, like Mumford and Sons, held their scheduled shows and donated the profits to LGBT groups.

After the announcement, the governor's office released the following statement:

Hundreds of concerts have been successfully performed across North Carolina, including Beyoncé, over the past few weeks since the law passed. We may never know why Maroon 5 waited until weeks later to make their political statement, but at this point, the only people they are hurting by hypocritically targeting North Carolina for selective outrage are their fans and the hardworking men and women servicing these shows while they keep tour dates overseas – even in Russia.

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