Some Homophobic Australians Are Mad About Macklemore

Australia is in the midst of a two-month, mail-in vote to measure public opinion on gay marriage. This Sunday, Macklemore is scheduled to perform “Same Love”—a pro-LGBT song—at the National Rugby League grand final. A lot of Australians who don’t think gay people deserve basic human rights are mad about this.

David Goodwin, the spokesman for Australia’s “no” campaign, known as the Coalition for Marriage, said it was “bizarre that the NRL would choose to use its half-time entertainment to push a message which it knows millions of Australians disagree with.”

Former prime minister Tony Abbott shared a petition from former NRL player Tony Wall that says, “I demand that the NRL reconsider its political position and remove LGBTIQ politics out of the awesome sport of Rugby League.”

On radio station 2GB, Abbott also delivered a nonsensical rebuke of “political correctness” run amok. From the Sydney Morning Herald:

“We have seen political correctness run riot on a whole host of issues, but this is the first time that the Australian public have been asked to cast their verdict on all of these developments.”

The NRL has already come out in support of marriage equality, and NRL executive Todd Greenberg told 2GB the league wouldn’t call off the performance.

“He’s playing four of his biggest hits, one of those will include that song and we’re very comfortable with that,” he said, per the Sydney Morning Herald. “It would be a little hypocritical for us to have inclusiveness as one of our values and not actually deliver on it.”

Correction (3:19 p.m. ET): The original version of this article referred to Australia’s “no” campaign as the Coalition for Marriage Equality, when it is actually the Coalition for Marriage. The error has been fixed.