Seattle Mariners dump Macklemore song from 7th-inning stretch after rapper said ‘f*ck America’

Friday night was the team’s first home game since the Seattle rapper made the comments as part of an antisemitic tirade during the Palestine Will Live Forever concert, a benefit for groups with ties to terrorist organizations, that was held in the heart of the Emerald City’s largest Jewish community on the Sabbath.

According to The Seattle Times, instead of playing Macklemore’s song after the seventh-inning stretch, the Mariners pivoted to their “Hot Dogs From Heaven” promotion, where hot dogs are parachuted to fans from the upper deck while the stadium blasted Belinda Carlisle’s “Heaven Is a Place on Earth.”

The Mariners triumphed over the Oakland A’s 2-0.

During his concert last weekend in the Seward Park Amphitheater, Macklemore told the crowd: “Straight up, say it. I’m not gonna stop you. I’m not gonna stop you. Yeah, F*ck America.”

The 41-year-old rapper, born Benjamin Hammond Haggerty in Kent, Washington, also rapped about supporting the “resistance” against Israel, meaning Hamas, called Israelis "motherf*ckers" and accused them of "murdering little kids" and claimed, "There will never be freedom by pleading with Zionists."

Macklemore also rapped about “freeing Palestine” from the "all mighty dollar sign," a classic antisemitic trope about Jews and money, demanded Kamala Harris stop supporting Israel, and falsely blamed Israel for a "genocide" that he said has been “happening since 1948,” the year the Jewish state was established.

Since the event, the rapper has been under fire with Seattlites who have called on the Mariners to dump Macklemore’s song. In 2022 fans weren’t happy when the team replaced “Louie Louie” during the seventh-inning stretch with “Can’t Hold Us,” but the controversy erupted after a video of the rapper’s comments went viral.

Following the rapper's remarks, a music festival in Las Vegas dumped Macklemore as the headliner.

Seattle fans also turned their ire on the Kraken and Sounders sports teams, of which Macklemore is part of the ownership group. The 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.”

The Mariners followed suit and 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 the latest developments.”

In response to the backlash, Macklemore doubled down on his anti-American and antisemitic comments in an Instagram post attempting to explain his siding with a terrorist organization that killed over 1,200 people on Oct. 7, 2023 and kidnapped over 250.

It remains to be seen what actions the Kraken and Sounders will take, if any, against the rapper.