Unlike other musical acts who are boycotting North Carolina over its controversial “bathroom bill,” Beyonce made Raleigh one of the first stops on her Formation world tour.
The “Lemonade” songstress waited until after she’d performed—and after she’d made all her money from North Carolina citizens—before slamming the state on her website for its law prohibiting transgender individuals from using the bathroom aligned with the gender with which they identify.
Posting on her website following the concert, Beyonce noted that, “As the Formation World Tour makes its stop in the Tar Heel state in the midst of such a controversial time, we think it is important for us to bring attention to those who are committed to being good and carrying on the message of equality in this core of controversy.” Unlike Bruce Springsteen, Jimmy Buffet, Ringo Star, Brandi Carlisle, Demi Lovato and Nick Jonas, though, Beyonce put on a full concert for her Tar Heel fans, even though she appears to have secretly despised them the whole time.
From an economic perspective, not canceling concerts makes sense, but Beyonce certainly isn’t hurting financially. She reportedly makes anywhere from $1.5 to $2 million per night of her tour, putting her total takings from the tour well into the eight figures. Tickets to Beyonce’s concerts can range anywhere from $70 to $500 (the average ticket cost for her last tour with husband Jay-Z was $300).
The North Carolina show was sold out, but if she felt so strongly about the state’s treatment of LGBT citizens, a million here or there wouldn’t matter much to Queen Bey.
Perhaps, she simply didn’t want to be called a hypocrite. She would certainly gain credibility among her musician peers for boycotting North Carolina, but Beyonce has played gigs whose hosts are guilty of far worse. In 2009, she was paid $1 million to perform at a private New Years event in St. Barth’s, hosted by Mutassim Gaddafi, the son of Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi. It would be hard for Beyonce to explain why she could sing for a family that brutally murdered thousands, but couldn’t sing for a state that wants to more strictly define who can use their bathrooms.