Macklemore, the rising rapper from Seattle, is standing up for a middle school teacher in Michigan, who was suspended without pay after playing his pro-marriage equality song "Same Love" in class.
The teacher, Susan Johnson, played the track at the request of a student. The Ryan Lewis-produced single lays out an impassioned case for same-sex marriage rights and features lesbian singer Marry Lambert on the hook. When one student in the class objected to the song to the school's principal, Johnson was suspended for three days and told that she should have asked permission before playing it.
On his website, Macklemore spoke out about the case, news of which has been spreading online.
"I believe that Ms. Johnson getting suspended is completely out of line and unjust," he wrote. "However, I think it’s important for moments like these to be exposed and for us to pay attention and respond. This level of intolerance and fear is still very active in America, but at times is not completely visible."
Macklemore went on to encourage his fans not to feel defeated by the story, but rather to view it as a call to arms.
"It’s discouraging that a song about love and civil rights has led to a teacher getting suspended from her job. But that’s where we are at," he wrote. "For those of us who get a pit in our stomach when reading a story like this, it just makes it abundantly clear there is far more work to be done."
Read Macklemore's full statement here.

BET.com is your #1 source for Black celebrity news, photos, exclusive videos and all the latest in the world of hip hop and R&B music.

Click here to subscribe to our newsletter. 

(Photo: John Ricard/BET)