{"id":33148,"date":"2026-09-22T09:44:50","date_gmt":"2026-09-22T09:44:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/?p=33148"},"modified":"2026-09-22T09:44:50","modified_gmt":"2026-09-22T09:44:50","slug":"pink-criticized-macklemores-pro-palestine-set-activists-want-unicef-to-cut-ties-with-her","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/?p=33148","title":{"rendered":"Pink Criticized Macklemore\u2019s Pro-Palestine Set. Activists Want UNICEF to Cut Ties With Her."},"content":{"rendered":"

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When the pop <\/span>singer Pink took to social media<\/a> to decry rapper Macklemore\u2019s comments on Israel\u2019s genocide of Palestinians \u2014 a slaughter that has taken the lives of more than 20,000 kids \u2014 she brought up her decadelong role as a UNICEF ambassador to show that she cares about children.<\/p>\n

Now, a new petition<\/a> signed by more than 160,000 people, including the backing of actor Javier Bardem, is calling for Pink\u2019s removal from her UNICEF USA role. The petition organizers, Swifties Against Genocide, named for fans of the pop singer Taylor Swift<\/a>, said that Pink\u2019s remarks sidelined concern for Palestinian children and \u201cfueled ongoing conflict and struggles for visibility and empathy.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cAs individuals who care deeply about the welfare of children around the world, we must hold UNICEF Ambassadors to the highest standards of neutrality and compassion,\u201d the organizers wrote. \u201cPalestinian children, like all children affected by genocide, deserve ambassadors who unequivocally extend support and empathy towards their plight.\u201d<\/p>\n

The petition is the latest example of the type of public pressure<\/a> supporters of Palestine are seeking to exert amid a tidal shift of sentiment<\/a> in the U.S. on Palestine and Israel over the past three years. Israel\u2019s genocide in Gaza has dramatically soured U.S. opinion on Israel, with a majority<\/a> viewing Israel unfavorably and more Americans taking a sympathetic view<\/a> of Palestinians.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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\u201cUNICEF itself has called Gaza a graveyard for children. Its ambassadors are supposed to speak for those children, not attack the people who do.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/figure>\n

The transformations have played out in the current midterm election cycle, with candidates<\/a> pushing to sever<\/a> military ties with Israel winning<\/a> in primaries<\/a> across the country<\/a>. In the past several weeks, the subject has upended mainstream popular culture, with battle lines being drawn over a stadium concert tour by pop icon Ed Sheeran.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

The pressure on UNICEF to part ways with Pink is tied up with a strategy among Palestine solidarity activists to extract a price from Israel for its continued occupation and genocide of Palestinians.\u00a0<\/p>\n

For Tariq Kenney-Shawa, a policy fellow with Al-Shabaka U.S., the petition is \u201ca clear attempt to draw a new line in the sand and make the point that choosing to take the moderate lane is unacceptable.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThese past couple days have proven that being shamelessly pro-Israel, or even refusing to take sides in the face of a genocide, is no longer the safe route,\u201d he said, citing a shift of the \u201ccultural hegemony\u201d in the West.<\/p>\n

Though Sheeran himself \u2014 who said at his latest concert that he was listening to both sides \u2014 is not a target of Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions against Israel, the cultural backlash to his move to take Macklemore off the tour<\/a> reinforced the logic of the growing movement, Natasha Lennard recently wrote in The Intercept<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Representatives for Pink, UNICEF, and Change.org did not immediately respond to requests for comment.<\/p>\n

Other advocates for Palestinian rights reaffirmed the petitioners\u2019 aims.<\/p>\n

\u201cPink should step down. UNICEF itself has called Gaza a graveyard for children<\/a>. Its ambassadors are supposed to speak for those children, not attack the people who do,\u201d said Raed Jarrar, the advocacy director of Democracy for the Arab World Now. \u201cWhether UNICEF removes her or not, it\u2019s time for her to step down.\u201d<\/p>\n

Attacking Pro-Palestine Speech <\/strong><\/h2>\n

The controversy involving Pink kicked off during Sheeran\u2019s show at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey on September 4. <\/p>\n

Macklemore, one of the opening acts, spoke out against Israeli apartheid and the genocide of Palestinians, addressing Jewish people in the crowd to say that criticism of genocide and the Israeli government \u201cis in no way a criticism of you.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

After backlash from pro-Israel groups like the Anti-Defamation League \u2014 and perhaps more critically, pressure from billionaire Robert Kraft<\/a>, the deeply pro-Israel owner of the New England Patriots and Massachusetts\u2019s Gillette Stadium \u2014 Sheeran dropped Macklemore from his tour. Then came the backlash to the backlash, with other opening acts on the tour and even Sheeran\u2019s backing band dropping out in solidarity<\/a> with Macklemore.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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Pink, the pop star who rose to fame with a string of hits in the early 2000s, waded into the controversy early on. After attending the September 4 show, Pink reshared a social media post<\/a> from the group Stop Antisemitism<\/a> that said Macklemore\u2019s claims of a genocide were \u201cfalse\u201d and that concertgoers were owed apologies and refunds.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t need anyone fired, and I don\u2019t need a refund,\u201d she later wrote on Instagram<\/a>, explaining why she reshared the post. \u201cWhat I need is to be able to say, as a Jewish mom, \u2018That scared me, and it scared people I love\u2019 \u2014 without being told our fear is just propaganda, and without being told I\u2019m somehow cool with genocide because I noticed?\u201d<\/p>\n

She added that the protest slogan \u201cFrom river to the sea\u201d and the use of the term \u201cZionist\u201d have become \u201ca slur.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pink said that \u201cnobody should ever celebrate the death of a child.\u201d She mentioned her experience as a UNICEF ambassador visiting children born in war zones. She \u201cgrieved every one of them, on both sides of that fence,\u201d she wrote.<\/p>\n

Yet Pink\u2019s grief, or any celebrity\u2019s, has done little to change conditions on the ground for Palestinian children. Just on Monday, an 11-year-old boy<\/a> was shot to death by the Israeli military in one of Gaza\u2019s apparent \u201csafe zones.\u201d<\/p>\n