There’s a new sports tradition in Seattle: During the seventh-inning break, the Mariners play Grammy-winning rapper Macklemore’s song “Can’t Hold Us.” The song and the artist mean more to Seattle than most outsiders understand. Macklemore, 41, born Ben Haggerty, is a Seattle native who has become as big an institution in the city as the Space Needle over the past dozen years. As a white rapper with all the privileges that entails, he pays special attention to the issues facing black, brown and other marginalized communities and focuses his foundation work on them.

Macklemore is also an inveterate hometown sports fan. In addition to his music being played at every Seattle sporting event, Macklemore shows up before and during games to get the crowds excited. He even gives Seattle baseball star Ken Griffey Jr. cameos in his music videos. Macklemore also invests his money in the sports scene, being a minority investor in both the Seattle Kraken of the National Hockey League and the Seattle Sounders FC professional soccer team. New York City has Spike Lee, Los Angeles has Jack Nicholson, and Seattle has Macklemore’s sports teams.

But that may be over now. At a hip-hop festival called “Palestine Will Live Forever” held in Seattle’s Seward Park, Macklemore reiterated his solidarity with the Palestinian people and his opposition to Israel’s war on Gaza and the U.S. role in funding the genocide. Last spring, Macklemore released the blistering “Free Palestine” track “Hind’s Hall,” named after the building occupied by Columbia University protesters and renamed in honor of Hind Rajab, a 6-year-old Palestinian girl who Israeli forces killed along with her family in Gaza. After debuting his new track “Hind’s Hall 2” at the festival, Macklemore appeared to respond to someone in the crowd, saying, “Say it straight. I won’t stop you. Yeah, screw America.”

Almost before the speakers were loaded onto the truck, the Sounders and Kraken released a joint statement hinting that they might cut all ties with Macklemore. They wrote, “We believe that sports brings people together and unites us. We are aware of Macklemore’s increasingly polarizing comments and they do not reflect the values ​​of our respective ownership groups, leagues or organizations. We are currently evaluating our mutual options on this matter.”

The Sounders and Kraken received support from the American Jewish Committee Seattle, whose regional director Regina Sassoon Friedland said, “I’m not really surprised, I’m disgusted. I really hope that companies like the Kraken and the Mariners reconsider their relationships and sever ties immediately.”

Festival organizers also banned Macklemore from a show in Las Vegas, reminiscent of what Ice T said a generation ago: “Freedom of speech… just be careful what you say.”

In response, Macklemore released a statement saying:

I wish I were in a better place with my grief and anger. But the truth is, I am not OK. I was not OK. The last 11.5 months of watching genocide unfold before our eyes have been unbearable on a spiritual, emotional, and human level. I simply cannot believe the way our government is behaving at this historic moment. I do not believe I am alone. I see dismembered children in Gaza being pulled from rubble and murdered by US bombs. I see my own children in their lifeless bodies. I do not believe I am alone.

We must be clear (and the American Jewish Committee’s comments give it away): If Macklemore had said “Fuck America” ​​in a musical or artistic context that had nothing to do with Palestine, no one would have noticed or cared. I remember Flava Flav putting an American flag down his pants and through his zipper. Today, he is America’s Olympic darling. An artist saying “Fuck America” ​​is not uncommon in our pop culture, but Palestinians are. Anyone who does that – no matter who you are, where you work, or how many Grammys you own – puts yourself at risk. It’s not just Macklemore. Concertgoers caught on camera, as well as concert promoters and supporters, are suspected simply for attending or hosting the all-day show.

Macklemore has spoken openly about knowing relatively little about Israel and Palestine before October 7, but he began reading and talking to others, and the more he learned and the more bodies of dead children he saw on social media, the more he felt he had to do something. That included recording “Hind’s Hall,” one of the most downloaded songs of 2024; speaking out against Israel’s attacks and the U.S.’s supply of weapons to genocide; and defending student protesters. Now he’s a target. Most artists are silent on Palestine; defenders of the status quo insist on punishing the tiny minority who speak out—to make examples of them, so that no one will dare point out that the U.S. is funding and weaponizing genocide in plain sight.

Macklemore’s future in the Seattle sports world is in the balance. His absence would leave a void that extends beyond this realm. It would be a break from the kind of community connectedness Macklemore has striven for throughout his career – sometimes skillfully, sometimes clumsily. The Seattle sports community – from the fans to the players and coaches to the renegade franchise owners – must stand up and say Macklemore will not disappear from the 21st century Seattle sports scene he helped create. The first test will come Friday, when the Mariners return from an away tour. Will “Can’t Hold Us” be played during the seventh-inning break? The answer to that question will speak volumes.