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N.S. energy minister apologizes for old song lyrics, pulls music from streaming
Nova Scotia’s rookie energy minister is apologizing for decade-old song lyrics that even he admits were ridiculous.
Marco MacLeod — who is 37 and was named to cabinet in May — wrote and recorded four songs that were released in 2013, when he was in his mid-20s. They came to light recently in Frank Magazine , and have been seized on by a Halifax’s women’s organization as being misogynistic.
The PC caucus said in an email to National Post that MacLeod has never made money from the songs, and they are not autobiographical. MacLeod is facing calls to resign.
The lyrics include:
“I wan’ get f—ed up, then I wanna get f—ed/Cocaine in my brain, two sluts in my truck/Now, those hoes…”
“Bounce it, bounce it up and down like some moon juice/She’d jiggle in LuLus until I’m hard in my Fruit Looms…”
“I like pretty faced models shaped like coke bottles/But once I pop that bottle cap you can have ‘em back/I tell ’em that they should do adult films cuz they can’t act, sorry girls”
Adsum for Women and Children , a Halifax organization that provides emergency shelter and housing, said in a statement Friday it was “sickened to learn of energy minister, Marco MacLeod’s writing, recording and releasing of several violent and misogynistic songs.” Regardless of age, the group said, “holding these beliefs and disseminating this type of content should disqualify an individual from public office.”
The group said MacLeod was an adult when he wrote the songs, and pointed to the Mass Casualty Commission , the inquiry into the 2020 Nova Scotia shootings that killed 22 people. The commission found gender-based, intimate partner and family violence to be an epidemic in Canada. “He was a man when he held and promoted these dangerous beliefs and responsibility must be taken,” Adsum said.
MacLeod is a farmer and owner of a small sawmill. He previously worked as a flight instructor and a manager for Michelin in Nova Scotia. Energy is a key file for Premier Tim Houston, who said in May that “Nova Scotia is becoming an energy superpower, and Marco has played an important role helping me as I seek out new opportunities to grow our domestic energy production.”
Under fire three months later, MacLeod said in a statement Friday the song was something he did when he was younger, CBC News reported. “This was a ridiculous song that captured pop culture over a decade ago, and there’s bad language in it,” he said. “I wouldn’t make this song today.”
He apologized the next day in a handwritten note posted to Facebook, writing that he has had a music album streaming online since 2013 and that two of the songs contain lyrics that are hurtful to women. “I accept full responsibility for these lyrics and I am committed to doing everything I can as a community leader to bring about the change necessary to stop misogyny in all its forms,” he wrote.
Frank Magazine reported that a four-track release called The Falls EP, credited to Meadowville, lists Marc-Andre “Marco” MacLeod as a featured artist and composer. CBC News reported it obtained one of the songs, George Jones, and confirmed MacLeod sang on it before the release was taken down.
The PC caucus said there are “four songs and two contain language that Marco deeply regrets which do not show women the respect they deserve,” and that he recognizes “intent does not erase the impact of the words chosen” and is “sorry for the hurt and offence it has caused.”
MacLeod respects “the important work Adsum does supporting women and families in Nova Scotia,” the caucus wrote.
In its statement, Adsum said it demands that the premier, the caucus and MacLeod “get this right,” a phrase it took from Houston’s remarks the day the commission released its final report.
Jordan Croucher, the PC caucus’s director of communications, wrote in the same email that The Falls EP was first uploaded to SoundCloud in 2013 and to Spotify and Apple Music in 2023, and that it was taken down from those services last week. The music database Last.fm lists the release with a date of June 27, 2023, and four tracks, and National Post found no entry for it in Apple’s catalogue on Monday.
“Moving forward, I will do everything I can to be a positive influence on those around me,” MacLeod wrote in the note. “The music has been taken down, and please know that my office door is always open if you wish to chat.”
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