Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has again defended the NRL’s decision to have US rapper Macklemore perform his pro-same-sex-marriage anthem 'Same Love' at Sunday’s grand final.
A handful of conservatives, including former prime minister Tony Abbott, have criticised the move.
While Immigration Minister Peter Dutton said he did not want his kids to have a "political message jammed down their throat" when they went to watch the game.
But the Prime Minister has defended the decision in a series of media interviews.
"It's a question of respecting the artist," he told Nine’s Today show on Friday morning.
"That's one of his top songs, one of his hits. People expect him to play it. He wants to play it. The NRL supports same-sex marriage, what's the problem?
"Honestly I don't think trying to censor the playlist at half-time entertainment is certainly not my role. I look forward to it."
Since the controversy erupted, 'Same Love' - which was released in 2013 - has clenched the 15th spot on the iTunes chart and its music video sits in the number two spot as of Friday at 8.55am AEST.
It was reported by Junkee both the song and the video were sitting in the number one spot on the Australian charts earlier this week.
On Thursday night, Mr Turnbull told Network Ten's The Project the attempts to silence the song were out of step with liberal free speech values.
The controversy was triggered when Mr Abbott tweeted on Wednesday that league fans "shouldn't be subjected to a politicised grand final".
"Sport is sport," he added.
Attorney-General George Brandis sided with the Prime Minister.
He argued the song was one of Macklemore's hits.
"I thought Mr Abbott believed in freedom of speech," Senator Brandis he said earlier in the week.
