After being criticized for wearing a costume with a fake nose, faux beard and a wig, Macklemore was criticized by some for perpetuating stereotypes about Jewish people.
The rapper responded to criticism with a brief Twitter update, as reported yesterday. Now, Macklemore has issued a much longer statement about the costume and his intentions. In his statement, he says he thought he looked like Humpty Hump with a bowl cut and that others felt he looked like The Beatles’ Ringo Starr or Abraham Lincoln.
Despite this, he says he understands how some could be offended. “I acknowledge how the costume could, within a context of stereotyping, be ascribed to a Jewish caricature,” Macklemore says. “I am here to say that it was absolutely not my intention.”
Macklemore’s full statement is as follows:
Family, friends and fans alike who know me well, know that I’m absolutely not the person described in certain headlines today. There is no worse feeling than being misunderstood, especially when people are hurt or offended.
On Friday night we had a surprise show at the EMP Museum in Seattle. Earlier in the day I thought it would be fun to dress up in a disguise and go incognito to the event, so that I could walk around unnoticed and surprise the crowd with a short performance. I picked up a bunch of fake mustaches and beards and grabbed a left over wig from our recent trip to Japan.
As it turns out the fake noses they sell at the costume store are usually big (my nose didn’t fit most of them). So I ended up with a big witch nose. I went with a black beard, because that’s the furthest color from my natural hair. Disguise was the intention. I personally thought I looked very ambiguous in terms of any “type” of person. Some people there thought I looked like Ringo, some Abe Lincoln. If anything I thought I looked like Humpty Hump with a bowl cut.
We showed up to the event, I hit the stage in the outfit, rocked two songs, took pictures and went home. We had a great time and it was fun to be a surprise guest in a costume. I’ve always loved dressing up and have been doing so my entire career. The character I dressed up as on Friday had no intended cultural identity or background. I wasn’t attempting to mimic any culture, nor resemble one. A “Jewish stereotype” never crossed my mind.
My intention was to dress up and surprise the people at the show with a random costume and nothing more. Thus, it was surprising and disappointing that the images of a disguise were sensationalized leading to the immediate assertion that my costume was anti-Semetic. I acknowledge how the costume could, within a context of stereotyping, be ascribed to a Jewish caricature. I am here to say that it was absolutely not my intention, and unfortunately at the time I did not foresee the costume to be viewed in such regard. I’m saddened that this story, or any of my choices, would lead to any form of negativity.
I will let my body of work and the causes for which I’ve supported speak for themselves. I hope that anyone who may question my intent take a few moments to discover the human and artist that I strive to be. I respect all cultures and all people. I would never intentionally put down anybody for the fabric that makes them who they are. I love human beings, love originality, and… happen to love a weird outfit from time to time.
I truly apologize to anybody that I may have offended. I hope this better explains the situation and my point of view.
With love,
Ben
PS – Out of a negative can come a positive. Through this situation I’ve got hip to some incredible groups like the ADL and I encourage people to check the great work they, and others like them, do: http://www.adl.org
Photograph Of Macklemore In Costume By: Suzi Pratt
RELATED: Macklemore Denies Perpetuating Jewish Stereotypes With Concert Costume
ahahhahahahah these white boys always trying to play the good guy role haha aint nobody buying this shit nigga
True. GTFOH with that shit. Dude is the epitome of whackness
Man all the Jews do is complain. We need #Holocaust2point0. I’ll help build the oven.
^racism is only funny when it’s funny… but ur not funny at all, just disturbing^
#YOLOCAUST
wow mr To be frank
im praying to god your a kid because if a grown man/woman can say something like that then fuck. i don’t know whats wrong with the new generation of kids. if this was back in the days you would get a beat down boy.
I don’t think he meant it to be jewish, but it is kinda stupid.
I’m tired of these so called “jews” they are not real Jews anyway.
If he supposedly tried to look like a “jew” then he dressed up as a European White Ashkenazi Jew, and they are NO GOOD!
Real Jews are African and Arab. All the other European Jews are only half-blooded and discriminate against Black and Arab jews EVERY DAY.
In order to be a SEMITE, you have to be a SEMITE meaning you are from SouthEast Asia and either your a Arab Jew or a African Jew.
White european jews are NOT semites
“Arab jews” you’re a goddamn idiot.
you can keep spewing this black power nonsense… nobody cares, nobody believes you and nobody wants to hear it… SMFD you angry black lowlife
tl;dr…stop being insecure.
Jew Face is the new Dark Face
Trust me, I live in Japan and that disguise shit is usually expensive. Nothing you find at a “Thrift Store”
Seriously, these Zionazi’s need to stop whining and exploiting the holocost and anti-semitism whenever they can. The days of being thrown in an oven are over, we all see and acknowledge it was some of the worst shit done to mankind, Hitler’s gone and those things wont happen again Im pretty sure the majority of mankind won’t allow it to. But goddamn stop with the whining already!!!! Every little thing they’ve got something to say about and constantly yelling anti-seminitism is really getting tiring. And I agree with the above jews, those white ones are fakes exploiting the situation, the ARab and south asian jews are the real ones. But I guess the low level of intelligence here wont allow folks to see that Arab jews exist.
Lol all he had to say was “I didn’t mean to offend y’all” and keep it moving
Basically you can’t say shit about jews or gays without being crucified.
don’t forget Blacks…they are the most sensitive cry babies of them all…make fun of white people alllll day long but the minute you joke back you are a racist LOL! SMFD!
Wonder how it feels to be a hip hop fan and still nurture such anti black sentiments.
not anti black sentiments..jsut truth
why do people decide to do stupid things? i’m not even referring to how he should have known that costume might be taken the wrong way, i mean why would you do some dumb shit like put on a stupid azz disguise instead of NOT doing that
White americans don’t think and never mind making racist comments about blacks in public but when it comes to jews they think twice before saying anything because they are much more powerful and can cause serious damage than the poor blacks in white america.
Incredible groups like the ADL?? The ADL= Jewish version of the Aryan Brotherhood that tries to bully and intimidate anyone who dares criticize Jews or apartheid Israel. He shouldn’t apologize for anything.. Jews should apologize for Donald Sterling.
macklemore is just so corney first he issued a statement on winning Grammies..fuck that idgas who im against he put in work his whole life for music ect ect and then apologizes when he wins? lol I would of said u had a great album but I put in work too I deserve this foh.
now this long ass novel. people are too fkin sensitive now adays..everyone always got a complaint or feels some type of way..no one can make any jokes or its racist, sexist insensitive or one of the other 10000 excuses
that’s why I respected Eminem so much he said whatever the fuck he wanted and said fuck you and kiss my ass for ever.
Not true..Eminem dissed gays and was forced to apologize and perform with Elton John (whose gay). Then Benzino leaked those racist tapes Em made as a teenager saying the n word and he had to apologize fast! Em is controlled by the industry too..
The big difference is Humpty was suppose to be a comedic satire of the current Hip-Hop artist who were popular at the time which were for the most part were either very militant & socially aware like Public Enemy or very edgy & street oriented like N.W.A. So the joke was Humpty was a skinny, big nosed, goofy ass rapper who was totally unjustifiably self-assured we was a total Mack despite the contrary. But just looking at this picture is cringe worthy, I honestly can’t see how he could have taken a look at this costume & been like ‘yea this is cool, I can’t see any problems happening here’. Youre biggest hit is a song called thrift shop which is essentially a song about being cheap and youre masquerading in a costume which is practically the text book dictionary definition of a shallow jewish caricature feeding off those stereotypes. Being that obvious people are gonna connect the dots pretty quickly, give the audience some credit. You made a dumb ass move & tried an ill advised not well thought out joke that was in really bad taste that backfired & now youre trying to save face, admit it.
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“LORD JAMAR COMMENTS ON MACKLEMORE’S COSTUME CONTROVERSY”