John and Jake: Will Macklemore lose Kraken ownership after proclaiming ‘F*** America?’
Sep 23, 2024, 5:38 PM | Updated: 5:40 pm
Macklemore performs on May 15, 2024 in Melbourne, Australia. (Photo: Morgan Hancock, Getty Images)
(Photo: Morgan Hancock, Getty Images)
The Palestine Will Live Forever Festival caused controversy when Seattle-born rapper Macklemore, real name Ben Haggerty, stated his strong distaste for America.
The festival, which took place in Seattle’s Seward Park Amphitheater on Saturday, was meant to garner funding for humanitarian and grassroots mutual aid organizations supporting Palestine, according to the festival’s Instagram page. While the event had several artists, it went viral when Macklemore said “Yeah, f*** America” to which the crowd cheered. The exchange was posted on social media:
“F*ck America” – Macklemore tonight in Seattle. The cheering crowd goes wild. pic.twitter.com/gF8AP6uAje
— End Wokeness (@EndWokeness) September 22, 2024
Prior to that sentence, Macklemore is heard saying “Straight up, say it, I’m not gonna stop you,” gesturing to someone in the audience. Then again he said, “I’m not gonna stop you” before taking the opinion to the mic.
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Critics claimed Macklemore should “go try making your music in another country and see how it goes. Leave!”
According to The South Seattle Emerald, organizer Gabriel Teodros said the artists were booked for being outspoken and passionate.
“Especially this last year, I feel like a lot of musicians are scared to speak about Palestine, and there’s a lot of people frustrated that their favorite artists haven’t spoken about Palestine,” Teodros told the media outlet. “I love the way that we booked this festival because every single artist has been outspoken in life and in their music. And to do an entire festival actually celebrating the artists who a lot of the industry might not be messing with because of their messages and centering them, to me, is a beautiful thing.”
Macklemore released a song last May to protest the war in the Middle East and give tribute to the pro-Palestinian protests seen at colleges across the country.
“White supremacy is finally on blast screamin,’ ‘free Palestine’ ’til they’re home at last. We see the lies in ’em claimin’ it’s antisemitic to be anti-Zionist. I’ve seen Jewish brothers and sisters out there and ridin’ in solidarity and screamin’, ‘free Palestine’ with them,” part of the song goes.
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On Monday, co-host of “The John and Jake Show” on KIRO Newsradio John Curley noted that Macklemore is a minority owner of the Seattle Kraken and wonders if the team will be distancing itself from him following the incident. Macklemore also has a collection with Adidas.
“Will they come out with a thing? Will they distance themselves from somebody that talks about blank America?” Curley said. “Look you can say whatever you want. I have no problem with free speech. Go ahead, say whatever you want to say. But normally, if it was somebody that was associated with a Seattle organization and said something that somebody would be offended by, you would have all these people trying to cancel them. I don’t believe in canceling. I just want to know what the Kraken organization has to say about one of their minority owners saying blank America.”
The show, according to producer Joe Wallce, did reach out to the Kraken for comment.
Co-host of “John and Jake” Jake Skorheim brought up Haggerty’s backstory, wondering how a man who had “an American, crazy success story,” could speak poorly on the country he came up in.
“He’s rapping for years, almost incomplete, like nobody cares,” Skorheim said. “He’s just a local guy here who’s rapping about thrift stores and buying things secondhand. And I know that’s not all of it, but that’s kind of how he got famous.”
Event organizer Maher Joudi told The Seattle Emerald the festival was meant to show solidarity for Palestine.
“The only thing I want anybody to take away from this is — anything that we do in this space is 1,000% for Palestine,” he said. “It is in service of Palestine and those that are fighting every day. We do what we can on this side. And I think as long as we’re centering and framing all the work that we do as being in service of them, then we’re doing the work.”
Listen to the John & Jake Show every weekday at 3pm on KIRO Newsradio 97.3 FM. Listen to KIRO Newsradio 97.3 FM, or visit MyNorthwest.com to learn more.
Julia Dallas is a content editor at MyNorthwest. You can read her stories here. Follow Julia on X here and email her here.
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Tune in to KIRO Newsradio weekdays at 3pm for The John Curley Show.
