The Mariners sparked a mild uproar among local baseball fans in April 2022 when they replaced “Louie Louie,” their longtime seventh-inning stretch song, with Macklemore’s hit “Can’t Hold Us.”
On Friday night, in their first home game since the Seattle rapper’s controversial comments at the Palestine Will Live Forever benefit concert, the Mariners did not play Macklemore’s hit song.
Instead, the Mariners shifted to their popular “Hot Dogs From Heaven” marketing campaign, where hot dogs are parachuted down to fans while Belinda Carlisle’s “Heaven Is a Place on Earth” plays over the loudspeakers.
During his show last weekend at Seward Park Amphitheater, Macklemore was seen telling the crowd: “Straight up, say it. I’m not gonna stop you. I’m not gonna stop you. Yeah, F — America.” A 16-second video of his comments was posted on social media by user affiliated with a right-wing website.
Macklemore came up in Seattle’s socially conscious hip-hop community, and he issued a statement on Instagram on Wednesday that read, in part: “My thoughts and feelings are not always expressed perfectly or politely. Sometimes I slip up and get caught in the moment. Saturday night was one of those times.”
Macklemore, 41, has been an avid Seattle sports fan and, in recent years, became a minority owner of the Kraken and Sounders. Those franchises issued a joint statement earlier this week:
“We believe that sports bring people together and unite us. We are aware of Macklemore’s increasingly divisive comments, and they do not reflect the values of our respective ownership groups, leagues, or organizations. We are currently evaluating our collective options on this matter.”
Earlier this week, the Mariners issued a statement that read: “We are aware of the incident and agree with the other teams in town: Sports and music should connect, not divide us. We continue to monitor and research latest developments.”
