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A No Campaign Ad Aired Right After Macklemore's 'Same Love' Performance

And Grand Final watchers weren't big fans.
Macklemore was on fire on at the NRL Grandfinal on Sunday night. (Photo by Mark Kolbe/Getty Images)
Mark Kolbe via Getty Images
Macklemore was on fire on at the NRL Grandfinal on Sunday night. (Photo by Mark Kolbe/Getty Images)

Macklemore performing 'Same Love' wasn't the only time politics met sport last night: the new 'No' campaign ad aired during the NRL Grand Final on Sunday right after the American rapper's set.

The ad was classified "for mature audiences only" by TV regulator CAD, meaning that it could only be aired after 7:30pm.

It opens with the the line 'Love is Love', appropriating the popular 'Yes' campaign slogan. The ad then features messages that 'No' campaigners claim to have been sent in the lead up to the postal plebiscite, such as "I genuinely hope someone kicks your teeth in" and "What a bunch of homophobic maggots".

Grand Final watchers weren't big fans:

Abbot and co. spent all week calling to ban a song because "sports and politics shouldn't mix" while the No campaign do an ad blitz #NRLGF

— Luke is voting YES🌈 (@lucrious) October 1, 2017

"No" campaign ad comes on TV just as I am singing "I can't change, even if I tried, even if I wanted to" to my son #NRLGF#onelove#voteyes

— Jano (@Jano_music) October 1, 2017

NO campaign: 'Sport shouldn't be politicized'. also NO campaign *buys ad space during #NRLGF

— Trace. (@TraceTobes) October 1, 2017

Macklemore later described his performance as "one of the greatest honors of my career".

Macklemore hasn't been the only American celebrity to weigh in on the same-sex marriage debate -- Morgan Freeman told News Corp on October 1 that he was "surprised Australia doesn't have marriage equality".

"I think one of the catalysts people have experienced here in America is the realisation that some of their relatives are gay," Freeman said, "What are you going to say if your 14 or 15-year-old son comes and says, 'Dad , I'm gay'. Some are excommunicated immediately but most aren't. There is a new mindset and an understanding that it isn't some choice you are making."

On the same day, Catherine McGregor accused Abbott of using trans people to make a political point on same-sex marriage. McGregor, who is a trans activist and former member of the Australian Defence Force, said that Abbott was "someone who I considered, until this week, a very stalwart friend", and accused him of "kicking a lot of very innocent people".

She later emphasised the friendship breakdown in a Facebook post:

But Abbott isn't alone in being criticised for his plebiscite campaigning: the Labor Party has been accused of "bullying" after Tasmanian senator Helen Polley was allegedly told by senior party figures to publicly declare her support for the 'Yes' campaign, despite voting 'No'.

She told The Australian that party officials had suggested she "could be responsible for losing the next federal election".

Pauline Hanson lashed out at the Labor Party for the move, saying on Channel Seven's Sunrise program that "it is the typical Labor Party bullying that goes on."

"Everyone has a right on the floor of Parliament to speak up and should represent the people."

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