Jayme Deerwester

USA TODAY

Corrections and clarifications: An earlier version of this story did not make it clear that Ricky Diaz is the spokesman for North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory's re-election campaign, not the governor's office itself.

On Friday, Maroon 5 joined the mounting list of musical acts opting to boycott North Carolina after the passage of the controversial H.B. 2, or "bathroom law" which requires transgender people to use the restroom specified for the gender on their birth certificate. (The law applies to restrooms in government, school and university buildings.)

"We have announced that we will be canceling our upcoming shows in Charlotte and Raleigh, North Carolina because of the recent passage of the HB2 legislation," the quintet announced on their website. "This was a difficult decision for us to make as a band. We don’t want to penalize our fans in North Carolina by not performing for them, but in the end, it comes down to what we feel is morally right AS WE FEEL EVERYONE SHOULD BE TREATED EQUALLY."

Bruce Springsteen, Pearl Jam, Demi Lovato and Nick Jonas, Ringo Starr and classical violinist Itzhak Perlman have all canceled dates in North Carolina or pledged not to play there since the bill's passage. Laura Jane Grace, the transgender lead singer of the band Against Me, took a different approach, keeping a Durham tour date where she burned her birth certificate onstage last weekend.

Transgender singer Laura Jane Grace burns birth certificate onstage in N.C.

Ricky Diaz, a spokesman for North Carolina's Republican Gov. Pat McCrory's re-election campaign, questioned why Maroon 5 is making their move now and labeled their tour date cancellations there as "hypocritical" since they have kept tour dates in other places with less-than-sterling human rights records on LGBT issues.

"Hundreds of concerts have been successfully performed across North Carolina, including Beyoncé, over the past few weeks since the law passed," he said in a statement. "We may never know why Maroon 5 waited until weeks later to make their political statement, but at this point, the only people they are hurting by hypocritically targeting North Carolina for selective outrage are their fans and the hardworking men and women servicing these shows while they keep tour dates overseas – even in Russia."

USA TODAY has reached out to representatives of the band for comment.

According to civil rights group Lambda Legal, North Carolina is one of 46 states where a transgender person can have his or her birth certificate changed or amended after undergoing gender reassignment surgery provided they apply in writing and include a notarized statement from the doctor who performed the operation. Idaho, Kansas, Ohio and Tennessee are the holdouts; so far they have not drawn threats of boycotts.