Pink Faces Campaign to Strip Her of UNICEF Role After Speaking Out as a Jewish Mom

Standing with the Jewish people is now a risk of career suicide. Pink did not demand that Macklemore be silenced; she said that his concert imagery frightened her and people she loves, and that he had no right to tell Jews how they should feel. For that, nearly 200,000 people signed a petition to strip her of her UNICEF ambassadorship. That is the vicious turn in today’s antisemitism.

Frankly, UNICEF is a deeply problematic orghanization. The agency has itself faced accusations of antisemitism and has faced documented fraud and corruption cases, as well as criticism of its oversight. Its own investigations office reported handling 1,837 cases in 2025; that figure includes many types of alleged misconduct. The EU has also pressed UNICEF to improve fraud controls and tracking of supplies after they reach partners.

She’s being cancelled for saying that children on both sides of the conflict should be protected.

These people are insane. pic.twitter.com/ooQ9nI8FN4

— Eyal Yakoby (@EYakoby) September 18, 2026

Sign the counter petition here: https://c.org/ZvNFDqZxfT

Calls grow to remove Pink as UNICEF ambassador over her criticism of Macklemore

Petition gains close to 200,000 signatures after Jewish pop star speaks out against rapper’s use of ‘violent images from a war’ on stage at Ed Sheeran concert

By Joseph Strauss, Times of Israel, 25 September 2026:

JTA — Pop singer Pink is facing more calls — including from Spanish Oscar-winning actor Javier Bardem — for her removal as an ambassador for UNICEF, the United Nations agency that provides aid to children and mothers.

Pink criticized Macklemore for the pro-Palestinian comments and imagery in his opening set on Ed Sheeran’s tour. The rapper was removed from the tour after venues objected to his participation.

Macklemore has announced his own “Free Palestine” tour beginning with three dates in Dublin, Paris and London starting October 26, with additional dates, including in the US, to be announced. “All proceeds will benefit organizations supporting the Palestinian people and movement,” he said. Jewish Voice for Peace, an anti–Zionist group, is one of the causes listed on the tour flier.

The petition reads, “As 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.” It was started by the group Swifties Against Genocide and has received more than 192,000 signatures. Bardem, who has been vocal in his support of Palestinians, shared the petition on his Instagram account earlier this week.

“Palestinian children, like all children affected by genocide, deserve ambassadors who unequivocally extend support and empathy towards their plight,” the petition reads.
Pink, whose real name is Alecia Beth Moore-Hart, cited her work as a UNICEF ambassador in a lengthy Instagram post earlier this month about Macklemore’s comments.

Pro-Palestinian demonstrators hold signs during a “Free Palestine” protest before an Ed Sheeran concert in Philadelphia, September 19, 2026. (AP Photo/Allie Ippolito)
“I’ve spent a decade as a UNICEF ambassador for kids who didn’t choose the country or the war they were born into, and I have grieved every one of them, on both sides of that fence,” Pink wrote at the time.

She added that Macklemore used “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.”

Macklemore told the crowd during his speech: “To all of my Jewish brothers and sisters: criticism of Israel, criticism of apartheid, being against genocide in no way is a criticism of you.”

“You don’t get to decide that for us,” Pink responded in her post.

That comment, and not Macklemore’s use of the phrase “Free Palestine,” was what motivated Pink to weigh in, she said.

She first weighed in by sharing a post by the account StopAntisemitism, which accused Macklemore of ambushing fans with “anti-Israel propaganda.” After receiving backlash for the repost, Pink issued a statement of her own, saying that people assumed her exact beliefs based on her Jewishness.

“I was born a Jew. I didn’t pick it, and I’ve never hidden it,” she wrote. “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.”

In her post, Pink wrote that she does not “speak for Israel, or for any government,” and that “Palestinians deserve a future that honors their humanity and their aspirations.” She lamented the use of the word “‘Zionist,’ spat like it’s a slur.”

She also wrote that she did not call for Macklemore to be dropped from the tour, which some critics did.

“I have never asked for another artist to be silenced and I’m not asking now,” she wrote. “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?”

The petition calling for Pink’s ouster was published the same day that she posted her statement, and has since gained nearly 200,000 signatures. Her comments, the petition writes, have “fueled ongoing conflict and struggles for visibility and empathy,” and removing her “would reaffirm UNICEF’s commitment to impartiality and its dedication to all children, irrespective of nationality or heritage.”

Bardem and his wife, actress Penelope Cruz, faced threats of a boycott in 2014 after they joined an open letter condemning Israel for its conduct in its war that year with Hamas. Bardem particularly stirred outrage with a separate statement at the time in which he said: “I cannot understand this barbarism, even more brutal and incomprehensible considering all of the horrible things the Jewish people have gone through in the past.” He and Cruz soon walked back their comments.