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

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.

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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.

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UNICEF did not return the Jewish Telegraphic Agency’s request for comment.

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.

“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.

Pink was first named a US national ambassador for UNICEF in 2015. That year, she traveled to Haiti and met with children and health center patients who were dealing with the aftermath of the country’s devastating 2010 earthquake. UNICEF’s website also says that Pink is passionate about ending global malnutrition and that she has used QR codes in her merchandise booths that link to UNICEF donation pages.

UN officials have previously defended the right of UNICEF ambassadors to express political views in their personal capacity.

The Pakistani government called for UNICEF to drop Indian actor Priyanka Chopra as one of its ambassadors in 2019, saying that her “support for war” and for India’s government amid heightened conflict in the disputed region of Kashmir made a “mockery” of the role.

“When UNICEF Goodwill Ambassadors speak in their personal capacity, they retain the right to speak about issues that interest or concern them,” Stephane Dujarric, a spokesperson for UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, said at the time, adding that their “personal views or actions do not necessarily reflect those of UNICEF.”

UNICEF has, however, removed an ambassador over political conduct. In 1987, it terminated its association with goodwill ambassador Boris Becker after the tennis player declined to commit that he would not return to apartheid-era South Africa.

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