While everyone from Bruce Springsteen to Demi Lovato has canceled shows in North Carolina to protest the state’s anti-trans bathroom bill, Cyndi Lauper says she has her reasons for performing in North Carolina. On Late Night With Seth Meyers, Lauper explained that her concert will double as a protest, similar to the one she performed in Florida after the shooting of Trayvon Martin. Lauper told Meyers that Harry Belafonte, delightful person and activist, inspired the concert-as-protest idea while the two were working on a Gap ad together. “I told my manager, ‘You know, we shouldn’t play Florida.’ And Harry Belafonte got up and he said, ‘Yes, you should.’†Belafonte helped Lauper work with Martin’s mother and her foundation to put a political spin on her Florida concert, and Lauper will do something similar for her upcoming North Carolina show by requesting a non-gender-specific bathroom on her rider. “Let’s make it a rally,†she said. Lauper will play at the Duke Energy Center for the Performing Arts in Raleigh on June 4.
