A REPUBLICAN CONGRESSMAN has slammed Bruce Springsteen as a “bully” after the star cancelled a concert in North Carolina.
The singer cancelled the gig yesterday in protest over a law that targets transgender people, vowing to fight against “those who continue to push us backwards”.
Springsteen’s move marks one of the highest-profile actions yet against the law, which prohibits local governments within the southern state from acting to stop discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender people in public facilities and bathrooms.
“To my mind, it’s an attempt by people who cannot stand the progress our country has made in recognising the human rights of all of our citizens to overturn that progress,” Springsteen said in a statement.
“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.
It is the strongest means I have for raising my voice in opposition to those who continue to push us backwards instead of forwards.
Springsteen had been due to perform tomorrow in Greensboro, North Carolina as part of a sold-out arena tour revisiting his classic 1980 album The River.
In his statement, “The Boss” saluted activists and business leaders who have spoken out against North Carolina’s law.
Responding to the move GOP congressman Mark Walker told The Hollywood Reporter that other artists were coming to the state including Justin Bieber and Def Leppard.
Saying he might go to the Bieber concert in solidarity, Walker accused Springsteen of a “bully tactic”.
“Bruce is known to be on the radical left,” Walker said.
He’s got every right to be so, but I consider this a bully tactic. It’s like when a kid gets upset and says he’s going to take his ball and go home.
Notably, online payment giant PayPal scrapped a $3.6 million investment in North Carolina and the National Basketball Association has warned that it may pull next year’s All-Star Game from the state.
The governors of New York and Washington and a number of other local leaders have banned non-essential travel by officials to North Carolina.
North Carolina’s Republican governor, Pat McCrory, signed the law last month after its passage by the state legislature in response to a non-discrimination ordinance approved by Charlotte, the largest city in the state.
© – AFP, 2016 with reporting by Daragh Brophy.
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