For years, Detroit has been coming to Thanksgiving dinners across the country: The Lions, the city’s NFL franchise, have played (often haplessly) on national television as a matter of tradition. This year, the Lions are playing very well for once, yet their fans are not all happy campers.

As we reported yesterday, an online petition has emerged to protest this year’s Lions Turkey Day game. Specifically, some fans are clamoring for the team to take back its offer to have Nickelback perform as the game’s halftime entertainment. What, no Stevie Wonder, Bob Seger, Eminem, Aretha, Kid Rock? “Detroit is home to so many great musicians and they chose Nickelback?!?!?!” reads part of the petition.

Now, one Detroit native, soul singer Mayer Hawthorne, is wading into this burning issue. “Detroit is a huge part of everything I do,” he told Rolling Stone as he was cutting this tongue-in-cheek campaign video. “Not even just in music. It’s a big part of life for me. That’s where I grew up, and it’s the city that I love. I wrote an anthem, an ode to Detroit on my new record.”

Hawthorne is a diehard Lions fan who’s known to tweet his passion during games. “The main thing that we really need in Detroit right now is hope,” he says. “Thank God for the Detroit Lions.”

To voice your approval for Mayer Hawthorne’s campaign, tweet @MayerHawthorne and include the hashtag #Mayer4Detroit.

via RollingStone