Former Prime Minister, Tony Abbott, was among thousands of footy fans who slammed Macklemore for choosing to perform his pro-gay marriage hit, Same Love, at the NRL grand final.
And after calls for it to be dropped from his lineup, Macklemore sang the song as he kicked off Football’s night of nights, on Sunday.
And while it might be controversial for some, Australian celebrities including Rebecca Judd, Phoebe Burgess, and Sylvia Jeffreys praised the American rapper, with Jesinta Campbell saying: ‘Take that Tony!’
‘Take that Tony Abbott!’ Jesinta Campbell, Rebecca Judd and Sylvia Jeffreys rave about Macklemore’s performance at the NRL grand final…as he sings his pro-gay marriage hit Same Love despite calls for it to be banned
Taking to her Instagram story, Jesinta shared a video of Macklemore’s performance and colourful balloons, taking a dig at Tony Abbott in the caption.
The Veronicas star Jessica Origliasso also took to her story to share a shot of Mary Lambert singing the song with Macklemore, in support.
Jessica is in a relationship with Australian actress, Ruby Rose.
Sylvia Jeffreys meanwhile, shared the performance on her Instagram story and shared a shot of herself singing his smash, Glorious.
Phoebe Burgess shared shots of his performance, and WAG Rebecca Judd shared a shot of her husband Chris Judd and their children dancing to the music.
In particular, their son Oscar Dylan, six, danced to the beat.
It comes after Tony Abbott joined thousands of footy fans calling on Macklemore to dump Same Love from his grand final performance.
‘Footy fans shouldn’t be subjected to a politicised grand final. Sport is sport,’ Mr Abbott wrote on Twitter, as Australia votes for same-sex marriage to be legalised.
The song, which debuted in 2012, talks about the issues surrounding gay and lesbian rights which the music video highlights with a same-sex wedding.
The chart topping hit was written during the campaign for Washington Referendum 74, which later legalised same-sex marriage.
Former NRL player Tony Wall started a petition demanding the ‘LGBTIQ anthem’ shouldn’t be played because it was a ‘bold political stance’.
‘It will be very difficult to watch the NRL grand final with my wife and five young children as the event will be heavily politicised with a LGBTIQ anthem taking centre stage,’ Mr Wall wrote on change.org.
More than 2700 people signed their support for the petition in less than 24 hours.
Coalition for Marriage spokesman David Goodwin told The Courier Mail it was ‘pretty bizarre’ for the NRL to ‘use its halftime entertainment to push a message which it knows millions of Australians disagree with’.
Despite the backlash for ‘Same Love’, hundreds of people posted on social media, saying if they did’t like Macklemore’s performance then ‘don’t watch it’.
Macklemore meanwhile, pledged ahead of his performance to donate the Australian earnings of his song, Same Love, to the Yes campaigners, he told Nine News.