Sounders and Kraken ‘evaluating options’ after Macklemore’s ‘f*** America’ statement

Macklemore sparked controversy when he proclaimed “Yeah, f*** America” at a Seattle pro-Palestinian concert on Saturday. On “The John and Jake Show”, on KIRO Newsradio Monday, Co-host John Curley begged the question, would the statement lose Macklemore his Seattle sports team sponsorships?

John and Jake: Will Macklemore lose Kraken ownership after proclaiming ‘F*** America?’

Macklemore is an investor in both the Seattle Sounders and the Seattle Kraken, stated an email from Senior Vice President of Marketing and Communications at the Seattle Kraken Katie Townsend on Tuesday. However, previous articles, such as one on the NHL website, named Macklemore as a minority owner of the Kraken.

Townsend sent KIRO Newsradio a joint statement from the Kraken and Sounders concerning their affiliation with the Seattle-born, Grammy-Award-winning, rapper.

“We believe that sports bring people together and unite us,” wrote the organizations. “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.”

Macklemore was also dropped from the Neon City Festival in Las Vegas but the event did not attribute the change directly to the rapper’s comment, according to USA Today.” Macklemore will no longer be performing due to unforeseen circumstances,” stated an Instagram post shared by Neon City Festival’s account on Tuesday.

Macklemore was performing at the Palestine Will Live Forever Festival when he shared his dislike of America. The event took place at Seattle’s Seward Park Amphitheater and was meant to garner funding for humanitarian and grassroots mutual aid organizations supporting Palestine, according to the festival’s Instagram page.

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Event organizer Maher Joudi told The South 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.”

Julia Dallas is a content editor at MyNorthwest. You can read her stories here. Follow Julia on X here and email her here.