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Pink is doubling down on her criticism of Macklemore following his pro-Palestinian comments during a recent concert.
On Sept. 4, Macklemore opened for Ed Sheeran at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, and he used his time onstage to perform his anti-Israel song, “Hind’s Hall.” He repeatedly chanted “Free Palestine” while a slideshow played on the screen behind him, showing footage from the war in Gaza.
Several fans were upset by the performance, including an Instagram page called “Stop Antisemitism.” The page shared a video criticizing Macklemore, calling the move “awful.” Pink reposted the video to her own Instagram story, which started a new wave of backlash from people criticizing her for seemingly being pro-Israel.
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Pink has been receiving backlash after reposting a video criticizing Macklemore following his comments on Palestine and Israel. (John Nacion/Variety via Getty Images; Kristy Sparow/Getty Images)
Initially, Pink didn’t explicitly share her own thoughts on the matter, but on Sept. 11, she took to Instagram to explain her thoughts in an emotional statement.
“I’ve been quiet in my own words for a week, which you know isn’t like me. So here they are,” she began.
The “So What” singer explained that she’d reposted the video that was critical of Macklemore, which “said things in words I didn’t write, and I wouldn’t have chosen all of them.”
She maintained that “a repost isn’t a statement,” then wrote, “I’d rather be disagreed with for what I actually said than hated for what anybody else wrote, so let me say it.”
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Pink spoke about her reaction to the Macklemore controversy as a Jewish woman. (Scott Dudelson)
“I was born a Jew,” she continued. “I didn’t pick it, and I’ve never hidden it. And this week a whole lot of people decided what I believe without asking me, without checking a single thing I’ve ever said or done, because a repost and the word ‘Jew’ were apparently enough to fill in the rest. But let me fill it in… myself.”
“Of course I don’t speak for Israel, or for any government. I never have. What I said in October 2023 is still exactly what I believe: Hamas is a terrorist organization. Palestinians deserve a future that honors their humanity and their aspirations. Protecting innocent life comes first, everywhere, and nobody should ever celebrate the death of a child. Anybody’s child.”
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She detailed the work she’s done with UNICEF over the years, spending time with children “on both sides of that fence,” and said, “I’m not going to litigate a complex war in an Instagram caption, and I’m not going to recite anybody’s slogan to earn back a follower.”
Pink went on to explain that what she was “reacting to” was Macklemore himself. She recalled him performing his song “Same Love” at the Grammys in 2014, and how she cheered on the message, but “Four months later Macklemore put on a hooked nose, a black beard and a bowl cut, performed in it, and called it a ‘random costume.'”
Pink recalled a performance Macklemore did years ago that was perceived as antisemitic. (Kieran Frost/Redferns)
“Every Jew I know knew exactly what it was. The same love, it turned out, had a guest list, and we weren’t on it. But he apologized, and I let it go, because that’s what we do. We let it go. Then last weekend he stood in front of a stadium full of music-loving families, with violent images from a war on the screens, dedicated a song to the movement of his choice, and then took the mic to tell all of the Jews in the stadium that it wasn’t about them.”
She added, “You don’t get to decide that for us.”
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“That’s what prompted my repost,” she wrote. “Not ‘Free Palestine,’ and not anyone’s right to say it. I have never asked for another artist to be silenced and I’m not asking now. I don’t need anyone fired, and I don’t need a refund. What I need is to be able to say, as a Jewish mom, ‘that scared me, and it scared people I love,’ without being told our fear is just propaganda, and without being told I’m somehow cool with genocide because I noticed?”
Pink wrote that she’s always stood up for her beliefs, even when she is criticized for it, citing her own protest song, “Dear Mr. President,” which she wrote in 2006 in response to the Iraq War.
“I have stood up for other people’s people my whole career, and I know exactly what it costs,” she said. “And now I’m standing up for my own people, and I thought I knew going in how lonely that would be. And it’s lonelier than that. But I’m doing it anyway.”
The singer said she was “standing up for my own people” in her statement. (Christopher Polk/NBC/NBCU Photo Bank)
“Something has changed in this country, and I can read it in my own comments. ‘From the river to the sea.’ ‘Zionist,’ spat like it’s a slur, by people who couldn’t tell you the details of what I believe, because I hadn’t told them yet. I wasn’t asked. I was told. I don’t think most of them hate Jews. I think somebody handed them a story where the Jew who won’t apologize for existing must be the villain, and they’ve been putting words in my mouth ever since.”
She said that while she can take being portrayed as a villain, “I just won’t take it quietly, and I’m not going to teach my kids to.”
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Pink added, “So, to the ones who are furious with me: you don’t have to agree with me. You never did. That’s been our unspoken agreement for twenty-five years, and it still stands, and so do I. You don’t have to agree with one thing Israel’s government does to not want the Jewish family two rows down from you to be scared or targeted at a concert. That’s the only thing I’m asking anybody for. To the ones who are frightened this week, Jewish or Muslim or Palestinian or Israeli or just tired of all of it: I see you. And if anybody wants to really know what I think, just ask me. I’m right here. I’ve never been hard to find. And I’ll keep speaking out, in my own words.”
Pink said that she doesn’t want Jewish people to be “scared or targeted” at concerts. (Lorne Thomson/Redferns)
She ended her post by acknowledging the anniversary of 9/11, as well as Rosh Hashanah, saying, “Now I’m going to go make dinner for my kids, light the candles, dip some apples in honey, pour a glass of wine and be full of gratitude. That’s my tradition. It also happens to be a Jewish one. Shana tova.”
Following the original wave of backlash against his performance, Macklemore shared a video to Instagram of himself speaking onstage, explaining that one of the reasons he chose to tour with Sheeran was to be able to say “Free Palestine” in front of a large audience.
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“Wanting all humans to be treated equal should never be controversial,” he wrote in his caption.