A Greens Senator has joined calls to remove Snoop Dogg from this year’s AFL Grand Final.
The US rap legend was confirmed last month as the headliner for the Telstra Pre-Game Entertainment at the 2025 Toyota AFL Grand Final at the MCG, set to follow in the footsteps of Katy Perry, Robbie Williams, and more.
It was initially seen as a major booking for the AFL, with Snoop having been a fixture of pop culture and music for over 30 years.
“The Toyota AFL Grand Final is the biggest event on the Australian sporting calendar — and this year, it just got a whole lot bigger,” AFL CEO Andrew Dillon said at the time of Snoop’s announcement. “Snoop Dogg is a pioneer, a performer, and a true entertainer. he’s played to packed stadiums around the world — but we think 100,000 fans at the MCG might just be his most iconic crowd yet.
“We want Toyota AFL Grand Final Day to be an unforgettable celebration of footy _ and beyond the four quarters of the match, a celebration of culture, energy, and entertainment. Snoop fits that brief better than anyone.”
The backlash, however, has been swift and widespread.
In the Senate on Monday (August 25th), Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young claimed that Snoop’s history of misogyny and homophobia should have precluded him from performing at the Grand Final, arguing that the AFL should have instead looked towards homegrown talent for the headline slot.
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“Why is it that the AFL is bringing in an international artist — a slur merchant — paying them $2 million, rather than backing Aussie talent?” she asked. “The AFL has decided for the grand final, rather than putting on an Australian artist, they’re going to pay Snoop Dogg $2 million to play at the Grand Final.
“The AFL is a cultural institution, and cultural institutions like this should be backing the rest of our cultural institutions. Our artists, our musicians, our music industry, right here at home.”
Hanson-Young further pointed out the hypocrisy at the heart of Snoop’s booking.
“The irony is not lost on many of us that while Izak Rankine gets dumped, Snoop Dogg gets $2 million to play his misogynistic, homophobic music on our turf,” she noted, referencing Adelaide Crows forward Izak Rankine, who was issued a five-game suspension over the use of a homophobic slur. (Rankine’s suspension was later downgraded to four games.)
“We need investment in Australian and Aussie talent. We need investment in our music industry, and we need to say that if it’s an Aussie game, it’s an Aussie artist playing,” Hanson-Young added.
“Use last week’s outcry and outrage from the Australian community about homophobia and misogyny and dump Snoop Dogg and put in place an Aussie artist.”
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Snoop continued his long history of homophobic remarks on a recent episode of the It’s Giving podcast, revealing the discomfort he felt at watching Disney’s Toy Story spinoff film Lightyear when his grandson asked questions about the same-sex couple in the film. D
“They move on into the space years, and as they move down the line they’re like, ‘Then, she had a baby with a woman,’” Snoop said. “Now, my grandson, in the middle of the movie, is like, ‘Papa Snoop? How she have a baby with a woman? She’s a woman.’ Ah shit, I didn’t come in here for this shit. I just came to watch the goddamn movie.”
In Lightyear, which was released in 2022, Buzz Lightyear’s best friend Alisha Hawthorne (Uzo Aduba) reveals that she is engaged to Kiko, the grandmother of a character voiced by Keke Palmer. In clips of their future, the couple raise a son together. At their 40th anniversary celebration, they share a kiss. Kiko eventually grows old and dies.
Snoop went even further, claiming he feels “scared to go to the movies now” as a result of his ‘harrowing’ Lightyear experience. “Y’all throwing me in the middle of shit that I don’t have an answer for,” he added.
Following calls to ban Snoop from the Grand Final, AFL CEO Dillon defended the code’s decision to book the hip-hop star.
“We cannot vouch for every lyric in every song ever written or performed by any artist who has appeared on our stage — Australian or international,” Dillon said. “What I can say is that our pre-match entertainment on AFL Grand Final day will be family-friendly and consistent with the audience at the MCG and those watching the broadcast.
“It is also important to remember that we engaged Snoop Dogg in 2025 as the person he is today.
“He has spoken publicly about his past, he has changed, and today he is a grandfather, philanthropist, he helps rehabilitate youth and is a global entertainer who has performed at both the Super Bowl and the Olympic Closing Ceremony to audiences of more than 100 million people.
“In those environments his performance was appropriate and well-received, and his performance this year at our Grand Final will be fitting for the best sporting event in the country.”
Rolling Stone AU/NZ has reached out to the AFL for comment.
