Recently North Carolina passed into law a “religious freedom” bill that essentially legalizes discrimination against the LGBT community. Several corporations, sports leagues, and entertainers have criticized the legislation. Paypal canceled plans to expand its campus in Charlotte and Bruce Springsteen canceled a show in the state because of the law.

Jimmy Buffett has two shows scheduled in North Carolina later this month. He released a statement this morning criticizing the “stupid law” but saying that the shows will go on:

As a traveling musician for 40 years, I played many shows years ago, in many states where you could go to prison for 20 years for smoking a joint. It was a stupid law based on stupid assumptions. Time has fortunately reversed a lot of that way of thinking. But now another stupid law, based on stupid assumptions, has sprung up like kudzu in North Carolina, where we are scheduled to play shows next week in Raleigh and Charlotte.

North Carolina was there for me as a performer in the early days and I have always felt a loyalty to fans there that goes deep. Rightly so, a lot of people are reacting to the stupid law. I happen to believe that the majority of our fans in North Carolina feel the way I do about that law. I am lucky enough to have found a job in the business of fun. These shows were booked and sold out long before the governor signed that stupid law. I am not going to let stupidity or bigotry trump fun for my loyal fans this year. We will be playing in Raleigh and Charlotte next week.

That said, as for the future of shows in North Carolina, it would definitely depend on whether that stupid law is repealed. That is up to the good people of North Carolina and there are many, and I am confident that they will see that the right thing will be done. As Forrest said, “Stupid is as stupid does.”

Fins Up,
Jimmy Buffett

In a surprising move given his past endorsements and campaign events for Democratic candidates, Jimmy Buffett endorsed Donald Trump for president on Thursday in a message on his Facebook page:

I’m a baby boomer, born a year after the end of the second World War. Harry Truman was president and It’s A Wonderful Life had just been released in theaters. The future was bright, even for this son of a son of a sailor from Pascagoula, Mississippi. But as I sit here in my boat anchored off the coast of St. Barth, I reflect back on my 69 trips around the sun and how our country has lost much of its magic. It’s time for a new direction. A turn of the rudder to alter course towards fairer winds and calmer waters.

“And there’s that one particular harbour
Sheltered from the wind
Where the children play on the shore each day
And all are safe within”

I want to go to that One Particular Harbour, in a boat captained by The Great Negotiator, Donald Trump. Join me parrotheads.

Jimmy Buffett
31 March 2016
Saint Barthélemy

Trump sent a couple tweets later in the evening touting the endorsement:

Back in 2008 plans were announced to turn a Trump casino in Atlantic City into a Margaritaville Casino but the deal fell through.

Update – Happy April Fools Day! 🙂

At the daily White House press briefing on Wednesday, President Obama’s press secretary Josh Earnest name-dropped Jimmy Buffett.

President Barack Obama and incoming Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell held a rare private meeting at the White House Wednesday, though bourbon was not on the menu.

“It’s an afternoon meeting,” Press Secretary Josh Earnest explained to reporters at the daily White House press briefing, adding “that may be Jimmy Buffett’s philosophy, but Jimmy Buffett’s not the president of the United States.”

The behind-closed-doors confab came as the Republican leader prepares to take control of the Senate in January and as Obama has said he’ll be “spending a lot more time” with McConnell and House Speaker John Boehner, even joking he’d welcome a drink with McConnell.

“Actually, I would enjoy having some Kentucky bourbon with Mitch McConnell,” Obama said at a post-election press conference, after Republicans seized control of the Senate and widened their hold on the House.

Obama and McConnell had a “good conversation about a variety of different issues where we might possibly find common ground,” McConnell told CNN.

“This was not the bourbon summit,” he said. “But I’m still hoping we’ll have it.”

Jimmy Buffett recently recorded a video at his home in Florida, expressing his support for two amendments on the ballot next Tuesday in the state of Florida.

Amendment 1 is known as the Florida Water and Land Conservation Initiative, and Amendment 2 is the Florida Right to Medical Marijuana Initiative.

Buffett describes his support for both initiatives in the video below. With amendment 2, Buffett talks about how using medical marijuana helped him recover from his injuries after the stage fall in Australia.

On Wednesday night in Tallahassee, Jimmy Buffett performed for 1,500 in an effort to rally voters for congressional candidate Gwen Graham.

Gwen Graham’s closing statement to the voters of the 2nd Congressional District begins with Jimmy Buffett. The quintessential Floridian, as one Parrothead described him, entertained about 1,500 people Wednesday at a get-out-the vote rally held in a Tallahassee nightclub.

“Politics and music, my two favorite things,” whooped Marty Monroe, a Tallahassee resident, before Buffett took the stage. “Jimmy Buffett’s commitment to the environment is my kind of politics.”

Gwen Graham and incumbent Congressman Steve Southerland, R-Panama City, are engaged in a tight race. That both parties think they can win the seat is evident by a reported flood of $7-million in outside money inundating voters with broadcast commercials, mailings and knocks on the door.

Read more about the event here.