Showing posts with label Macklemore. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Macklemore. Show all posts

Sunday, January 26, 2014

Grammys to Feature On-Air Weddings of 34 Couples, Including Gays





At tonight's Grammy Awards, Macklemore and Ryan Lewis will preform their their Grammy-nominated song “Same Love,”which for moral and decent minded people has become an anthem of sorts for equality.  Needless to say, the Christofascists hate the song which highlights the hate and hypocrisy that are their stock in trade.  Adding to the statement made by the song there will be thirty four couples getting married while the song is performed: gays and straights, young and old, black and white, etc.  Indeed, it will be a Christofascists' nightmare.   Here are details from the New York Times:

At the Grammy Awards on Sunday night, pop’s megastars will compete for the music industry’s most prestigious trophy, and put on flashy performances that are sure to ricochet through social media.

But the producers behind the program, which is to be broadcast live by CBS at 8 p.m., are hoping that the biggest show-stopper of the night will be a much more solemn event: an on-air wedding of 34 couples — gay, straight, old, young, of many races and many colors. The ceremony will be part of the hip-hop duo Macklemore & Ryan Lewis’s performance of their Grammy-nominated song “Same Love,” which became a marriage-equality anthem last year just as that issue was drawing intense national attention.

Mr. Lewis, the group’s producer, said that the weddings “will be in our minds the ultimate statement of equality, that all the couples are entitled to the same exact thing.”

The segment follows what the Grammy organizers said was the show’s long history of addressing timely social issues through music, like Elton John’s duet in 2001 with Eminem, who was then widely criticized as homophobic.

“We’re serious about this,” said Ken Ehrlich, the longtime producer of the Grammys.  Yet as part of a televised awards show that works hard for its ratings, showbiz will also play a part in this sacrament. Queen Latifah will officiate at the nuptials, and Madonna will join the number with Macklemore, Mr. Lewis and the song’s featured vocalist, Mary Lambert. (Queen Latifah was recently deputized by Los Angeles County to perform the weddings and will sign the marriage certificates for each couple.)
At a wedding rehearsal on Saturday afternoon here at the Staples Center, the couples marched up and down the aisles several times as producers tested lighting and music cues. As the song’s warm piano chords filled the arena and the couples held hands in place, hardened entertainment executives and crew members teared up.
Kudos to the show's producers.  Meanwhile, if there are any interracial couples, that will be the icing on the cake for driving the Christofascists crazy. Yes, I am hard on religious based bigotry because, over all across the march of history, I believe that religion has caused much more harm than good.

Thursday, September 12, 2013

North Carolina Teacher Suspended for Showing Class "Same Love" Video





North Carolina continues its descent into batshitery by embracing Christofascist dogma and drawing negative national publicity to itself.  Indeed, since the Republicans took control of the state's government, it appears that everything possible is being done to convince modern, progressive businesses that North Carolina is to be avoided like the plague.  The latest story to underscore that North Carolina has become a state where hate and bigotry flourish involves the suspension of a middle school teacher who a class Macklemore's "Same Love" video.  As if many of the little darlings haven't already heard the song - its even been number 1 on local pop stations in backwards Hampton Roads - or seen the video.  The Charlotte Observer looks at the Inquisition like behavior of the school administration.  Here are excerpts:


A Taylorsville teacher has been suspended for showing a group of students a music video for a song that supports same-sex marriage. 

The video in question is for the song “Same Love,” the fourth single released by Seattle rap artist Macklemore and producer Ryan Lewis.

It’s the first song that promotes gay marriage to make it into the Top 40, according to gay rights advocates. It was ranked 13th this week.

Alexander County Schools Associate Superintendent Jeff Peal told the Taylorsville Times: “At West Alexander Middle School, there was an inappropriate video shown in class, outside the bounds of the curriculum that called for disciplinary action last week.”

Peal didn’t name the teacher in the article.

The video goes through the life of a gay man and includes images of him kissing his boyfriend, getting married and lying motionless in a hospital bed while holding his partner’s hand. 

The video has been viewed nearly 78 million times on Youtube, and was featured as part of the website’s Pride Week. 

God forbid that youth realize that gays not only exist, but that we have loves and families just like everyone else.   Oh, and the cynical part of me can't help but wonder whether Superintendent Jeff Peal is one of the "godly folk" in the Bible Belt who loves his Internet porn. 


Read more here: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2013/09/11/4306014/teacher-suspended-for-showing.html#.UjEU-BYgrAY#storylink=cpy


Read more here: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2013/09/11/4306014/teacher-suspended-for-showing.html#.UjEU-BYgrAY#storylink=cpy