Governor McCrory’s Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad, Boycott Week.
North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory’s life since he passed the new Anti-Discrimination Law HB2, has been less than stellar. The avalanche of backlash from social media and business leaders came to a head this week when the threat of boycott turned in a reality. Here is a short list of what went down:
~ A group of Equal Rights protesters sent a gift to the Governor last week in the form of a Porta Potty that was delivered to the Capitol Grounds. Ii’s not clear whether the portable toilet was meant to embarrass the Governor or simply contained the group’s collected opinions of McCrory and the new law. Also this week, joining Apple, Google, several other companies on the letter to Gov. McCrory asking for the repeal of HB2 were Hyatt, Hewlett-Packard Enterprise, Northrop Grumman, Ralph Lauren, American Apparel, Qualcomm, Twilio, Udacity, Pandora Media, and EMC Corporation.
~ The NBA has voiced their concern about HB2 and are considering moving the 2017 NBA All-Star Game away from Charlotte, NC in support of the boycott.
“The NBA is dedicated to creating an inclusive environment for all who attend our games and events,” the league said in a statement. “We are deeply concerned that this discriminatory law runs counter to our guiding principles of equality and mutual respect and do not yet know what impact it will have on our ability to successfully host the 2017 All-Star Game in Charlotte.”
~ Sean Lilly Wilson, the CEO of Fullsteam Brewery, published an excerpt of a letter he penned to North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory on his Facebook page. Wilson is founder and chief executive optimist at Fullsteam, located in Durham NC. In his statement, Wilson asserted he wanted the post to be affiliated with him personally and not as a spokesperson for Fullsteam Brewery. He didn’t want the media spotlight focused on his brewery and attention diverted away from the issues HB2 has created for business leaders in NC. Wilson admitted his decision to write the letter will likely lose money for his company, but felt it was the right thing to do. In it, Wilson not only voiced his opinion of the new law but, also, asked for Fullsteam Brewery to not be promoted in any way by the NC Government and then demanded the removal of Fullsteam from Governor Pat McCrory’s “Nothing Compares” campaign.
“Until this legislation is overturned, reversed, or modified to shed its malicious intent, I do not want Fullsteam Brewery associated with North Carolina government. While we will, of course, pay our taxes and abide by federal, state, and local regulations, I respectfully ask that you no longer showcase Fullsteam Brewery in any state promotional effort.
This includes, but is not limited to, the following:
• Please take down the feature of Fullsteam on the “Nothing Compares” section on the North Carolina Commerce website.
• We are withdrawing our participation from the Got To Be NC Festival.
• We will not participate in the State Fair.
• Please withdraw my name from consideration for future Economic Development Partnership of North Carolina (EDPNC) media missions. I have been very fortunate to be a part of this mission for the past seven years, serving as an advocate for North Carolina craft beer in New York City, Atlanta, Greenville S.C. and Charlotte. While I am very thankful for the opportunity and truly appreciate the good people of the EDP, I cannot in good conscience associate myself or my company with the recent actions of the State of North Carolina.
• We will suspend our involvement with all state-facilitated international export programs.”
Ouch.
~The CEO of Pepsico sent a letter to McCrory on Friday asking or the repeal of the Law. Pepsi was born in NC and the company still holds it’s annual stockholders meeting in New Bern, NC every year. CEO Indra Nooyi wrote,
“I was taken aback by the legislature’s recent action in passing HB2, as well as your decision to sign it into law so quickly,” and she feels the law “impedes our progress toward equality.”
It’s still unclear if Nooyi will move the annual meeting somewhere else. However, the slogan of “Born in the Carolinas” will most definitely land on the chopping block.
~ It one thing to have outsiders openly criticize your work, but when someone from your own team turns on you, it can really mess up your day. NC Attorney General, Roy Cooper, announced this week he will not defend HB2 in court and believes the law is wholly unconstitutional.
“Not only is this new law a national embarrassment, it will set North Carolina’s economy back if we don’t repeal it,” continued Cooper. “The threats to our economy will grow even darker the longer this law stays in effect.”
Cooper, who is running against McCrory for the Governor’s seat in November, suggested the Governor seek outside counsel when the ACLU lawsuit state goes to court. Double ouch.
~ After annihilating the prosperous film industry in his home state by caving into the Koch Brothers demands early in his term, McCrory seems to have pounded the final nail into the coffin of NC’s movie and TV industry. Turner Broadcasting, 20th Century Fox, and A&E all separately issued statements saying they want the Law repealed and are watching the situation closely. Lionsgate told the press they were cancelling their plans to shoot a comedy series in Charlotte and instead moving the entire production company to Canada. Lionsgate also has the revival of the Dirty Dancing movie scheduled to be filmed in Asheville, NC later in the year. No decision has been made yet about moving this production. However, If more production companies decide to relocate their shoots, it could cost the state millions in revenue.
~Legendary Broadway Composer Stephen Schwartz (Pippin, Godspell, Wicked, Children of Eden and the Hunchback of Notre Dame) has vowed to pull the performing rights of all of his musicals from being performed in North Carolina at any level. That means, no high school productions of Godspell or visits by the National Tour of Wicked. If any other Broadway Big Wig decides to boycott, (wink, wink, nudge, nudge, Mr. Sondheim) the Arts in North Carolina could be in serious trouble. Culture is already in short supply in this State and let’s be honest, the LGBT community really doesn’t need another reason to hate the Governor.
And finally, the Obama administration is considering whether the new law would disqualify NC for billions of dollars in federal aid. The money is earmarked for the repair of roads, the building of schools, and low-income housing. Potentially, this could destroy any chance of McCrory being re-elected. He promised the people of NC that HB2 would not have a financial impact on education money that is sorely needed. McCrory is holding steadfast to his beliefs that HB2 is a good move for the state and insists the media is over reacting.
“And I frankly think some of the media has failed miserably in communicating the clear facts, especially the national media with the New York Times and the Washington Post and the Huffington Post,” McCrory continued. “And we’re trying to clarify that [sic] facts, and I hope you put out the accurate information about the true facts of a common sense ordinance.”
The difference between Republicans of today and the once proud party of Lincoln is, only today’s Republicans would confuse common sense with discrimination.
Featured image cropped from original image available under a Creative Commons license.
