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Patti LaBelle, Destiny's Child Boycott South Carolina
Patti LaBelle , Destiny's Child , the O'Jays and other music groups are refusing to play in South Carolina until the state capitol stops flying the Confederate flag.
LaBelle recently cancelled an April 8 show at the University of South Carolina in Columbia, the state's capitol. The show promoter then enlisted Destiny's Child, the O'Jays, Eric Benet, Brian McKnight and Gerald LeVert to play the show, but they later refused to perform too, according to the New York Times.
The boycott has also been embraced by some professional sports teams and by dancer Bill T. Jones, who withdrew from performing at Charleston's upcoming Spoleto Festival, a renowned music and arts event.
Opponents of the Confederate flag believe that it is a symbol of racist oppresion, while supporters contend that it commemorates Southern soldiers who died in the Civil War. Last week, the South Carolina legislature refused to make the Martin Luther King holiday a state holiday, sending the bill that would have done so back to committee with new language stating that the flag is not a racist symbol.
