American songwriter and rapper Macklemore performs on the ACL Live Stage at the Moody Theatre in Downtown Austin as part of South By Southwest, March 17, 2023. SARA DIGGINS/AMERICAN-STATESMAN / USA TODAY NETWORK

Seattle Mariners Elect Not to Play Traditional Song From Controversial Musician

Originally posted on Seattle Mariners on SI
By Brady Farkas | Last updated Sep 28, 2024 5:15 PM ET

The Seattle Mariners are distancing themselves from controversial rapper "Macklemore" after comments he recently made at a Pro-Palestinian Festival in Seattle.

While performing at the festival, the rapper said "F*ck America," causing outrage from across the political aisle.

The Mariners have typically played his "Can't Hold Us" song in the bottom of the seventh inning at home games. They have done this since 2022.

Per the Seattle Times:

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.

In their first home game since Macklemore’s controversial comments, the Mariners did not play “Can’t Hold Us” during the seventh-inning stretch for the first time since it replaced “Louie Louie” in April 2022. https://t.co/uFkXVmEAbU
— Seattle Times Sports (@SeaTimesSports) September 28, 2024

Macklemore has long been associated with Seattle Sports teams, serving as a part owner of both the Seattle Kraken and the Seattle Sounders FC.

In addition to playing one of his songs at their games, Macklemore released an incredibly popular Mariners-themed song back in 2011 honoring longtime broadcaster Dave Niehaus, who had just passed away at the time. It was called "My Oh My" in tribute to Niehaus's catch phrase.

As for the play on the field, the Mariners beat the Athletics 2-0 behind solo home runs from both Mitch Garver and Cal Raleigh. The M's used five pitchers to throw a shutout. The game was started by Bryan Woo and finished by Troy Taylor.

At 83-77, the Mariners will miss the playoffs yet again this season. They will play the A's again on Saturday night with first pitch coming at 6:40 p.m. PT. Emerson Hancock will get the ball on the mound against Joey Estes.

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This article first appeared on Seattle Mariners on SI and was syndicated with permission.

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