(AllHipHop News) Macklemore & Ryan Lewis’ hit single “Same Love” garnered the praise of many pro-gay marriage advocates, but one supporter of same-sex marriage was not a fan of the track.
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Parks And Recreation writer and stand-up comedian Joe Mande spoke with The A.V. Club on why he hates Macklemore’s song. After first stating that he believes “homosexuals deserve equal rights in every aspect of human life,” Mande goes on to explain why he picked “Same Love” for AVC’s “HateSong” feature.
Mande said:
I just think it’s a corny song. I said something to that effect a while ago and then a bunch of people on Twitter—his Shark Face Gang, which is what they call his fans—started attacking me, calling me a bigot and a homophobe. It’s so funny to me how close-minded Macklemore fans can be. They couldn’t understand how someone could agree with someone politically and also think he’s super corny…
I think it’s pandering and it’s sort of manipulative. I think he also is so self satisfied; there’s a gross element of that. He’s super corny, but it’s also a corny song and it’s being devoured by corny white kids who like don’t even listen to hip-hop and already believe in gay marriage, so he’s preaching to the choir, to kids in high school who are in the choir. I know it’s well intentioned and I agree with the sentiment of the song, but I feel the same way about that song that I feel about Bill Maher. I agree with what he’s saying. I just hate how he’s saying it…
He puts himself up on this pedestal like he’s the first rapper to be open-minded and that’s not true at all…
Another problematic part of the song is that, for being this anthem, he spends the first third of the song reiterating how straight he is. Like when he was a kid, he was worried that he was gay because he liked to draw, which isn’t even a stereotype… Just write a song about gay marriage; you don’t have to bring your insecurity or cross-hatching as a kid into it. It can be personal if you’re gay. But if you’re not gay, just say you believe in gay marriage. I feel bad for gay people that they had to adopt this song as an anthem.
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