rammys: 34 Couples To Wed During Macklemore & Ryan Lewis’ ‘Same Love’ Performance With Madonna & Queen Latifah
LOS ANGELES, Calif. --
Caption During
Sunday night’s Grammy Awards, 34 lucky couples will be able to say that
Macklemore, Ryan Lewis, Madonna and Queen Latifah were at their
wedding!
According to the New York Times,
during the rap duo’s performance of thier marriage equality anthem,
“Same Love,” which will feature Madonna, 34 couples from a wide range of
backgrounds (gay, straight, old, young and a variety of cultural
backgrounds) will marry.
“We’re serious about this,” Grammys producer Ken Ehrlich said.
And the person officiating the couples’ nuptials is Queen Latifah.
Grammys organizers said they are ready for the variety of responses this hot button issue might receive.
“I
expect that people with all kinds of opinions might voice them, and
that’s healthy,” Neil Portnow, the president of the National Academy of
Recording Arts and Sciences, said.
Both Portnow and Ehrlich were quick to say the marriages are not a stunt.
“We don’t need to stoop to the level of trying to find gimmicks and sensationalistic approaches to what we do,” Portnow added.
Ehrlich,
who came up with the idea with Macklemore & Ryan Lewis after
discussing how many of their fans proposed to their loved ones onstage
during their concert, wanted to take the concept even further. But, he
explained that just because there are 34 couples getting married during
the Grammys, doesn’t mean the show will go dramatically over its
expected run time.