"Angry old white dudes" send Macklemore back to #1

Macklemore’s 2013 hit ‘Same Love’ has shot back to the top of the Australian iTunes charts overnight thanks to the controversy over his plan to perform the track at the NRL Grand Final this Sunday.

The rapper has received “a lot of tweets from angry old white dudes in Australia" following the announcement, which comes in the midst of the postal vote on marriage equality. 

OMFG. It happened. #SameLove is no.1. #goharder #VoteYES pic.twitter.com/KUvIz1gBx3

— Kathy McCabe (@McCabeRadar) September 28, 2017

Yesterday someone started a petition in Australia to ban me from playing Same Love at the #NRLGF. Today its #1 on iTunes. Love is winning ❤️

— GEMINI (@macklemore) September 28, 2017

Macklemore now has three songs in the iTunes Top 10, with latest singles ’Good Old Days’ and ’Glorious’ also performing strongly.

Former footy player Tony Wall has even gone so far as to petition NRL management to ban the performance of the song – which became an anthem for the same sex marriage campaign in the US on its release – and “take a neutral position on the question of same-sex marriage”. 

Former Prime Minister Tony Abbott has publicly backed the petition, while Attorney General George Brandis has waded in to back the U.S. rapper’s song choice (and backhand his former boss in the process).

“It is one of his most popular songs, and for Mr. Abbott or anyone else to say that it should be banned I think is a bizarre thing to say,” Brandis said on ABC Radio yesterday. 

Meanwhile, Abbott’s daughter Frances has appeared in a campaign ad for the YES side, as well as posting on Instagram to show her support for marriage equality while openly disagreeing with her outspoken dad.

Tony Abbott’s youngest daughter, Frances Abbott, has thrown her support behind the #VoteYes campaign appearing in an emotional video pic.twitter.com/oRsjLFtRRD

— Guardian Australia (@GuardianAus) September 26, 2017

The call to "go harder" (and the matching hashtag) emerged after Macklemore told a US radio station that he would do just that in response to the controversy.

He was due to hold a press conference this morning for Australian media, but cancelled at the last minute for reasons unknown.

Australian Rugby League officials have defended their decision to have Macklemore perform the track, saying that they’ve “made it pretty clear that we’re an inclusive game”, and that they’re “very comfortable” with Macklemore’s supportive stance on same-sex marriage.