Announced as winners of the “Chegg + Macklemore & Ryan Lewis” competition, the school were offered a visit from Macklemore and Ryan Lewis plus a $10,000 (£6,560) grant for the school music department.
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Macklemore & Ryan Lewis are partnering with Plus One. The event will be held after school hours, and students must have signed permission from their parents in order to attend.
But students took to Twitter with the hashtag #bringbackmack, protested on campus and garnered more than 8,000 signatures on an online petition as of Tuesday afternoon.
“We’re supposed to be teaching our kids to think, to take action, to not just stand by and let society dictate to them their values”, she said.
“I think people really don’t understand what he really stands up for”, said student Keaton Draper. “Even as high school students, we still have a say, and we can still make a difference”, said Quinn Darling, student body vice president. “I believe admin has made a huge mistake. I am personally offended by their decision as it is based off outdated evidence and our leaders have failed to see all the awesome movements and messages these artists have focused on spreading over the past few years which would be beneficial to every student at our school”, he wrote.
On “Otherside”, Macklemore dove into his personal drug addiction and how it nearly ruined his life, and on “Same Love” he supports gay rights. But Aliso Niguel High School principal, Deni Christensen, declined both Mack and money because parents objected to the Ed Sheeran of rap on moral grounds. “We deserve to have our voices heard”.
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Macklemore tweeted about the tour on Monday, writing he was “thrilled” to announce it.
