Macklemore has responded to the controversy surrounding his upcoming performance at the NRL Grand Final, after being criticised by “angry old white dudes” for planning to perform his marriage equality anthem ‘Same Love’ before the big game.
Macklemore’s spot at the Grand Final has already led to the formation of a petition calling for the song to be removed from the Grand Final pre-show entertainment. The petition was created by a former NRL player, and has been backed by former Prime Minister Tony Abbott.
Speaking on US radio show The Cruz Show overnight, Macklemore said he’s well aware of the controversy surrounding his performance.
“I’m actually going out to Australia to perform at, kind of, the Superbowl of their Rugby League,” he said.
“It’s interesting actually, because I’m playing ‘Same Love’, and they’re going through, right now, trying to legalise same sex marriage in Australia.
“So I’m getting a lot of tweets from angry old white dudes in Australia. I think there’s a petition today to ban me from playing it, so it’s interesting times in Australia.”
After one of the show hosts suggested that Macklemore should ‘go harder’ because of the petition, the singer-songwriter said, “I’m gonna go harder, I’m going to love.”
Macklemore is still scheduled to perform ‘Same Love’ in front of 84,000 people at Sydney’s ANZ Stadium (and thousands more on TV) this Sunday night, joined by singer Mary Lambert. The petition calling for the song to be banned has over 7,500 supporters at the time of writing, since being launched yesterday.
Watch the music video for ‘Same Love’, below.
