Pink Responds to Backlash for Criticizing Macklemore’s Anti-Israel Rant at Ed Sheeran Concert

Pink slammed critics after calling out rapper Macklemore for allegedly going too far with his anti-Israel comments while performing as the opening act for Ed Sheeran at MetLife Stadium last weekend. Macklemore, whose real name is Benjamin Hammond Haggerty, called for “Free Palestine” and accused Israel of genocide before performing his song “Hind’s Hall” during his September 4 and 5 shows in New Jersey.

His set also included a slideshow on the screen behind him showing footage from the war in Gaza. Pink reshared an Instagram video from StopAntisemitism showing Macklemore’s performance. The group criticized the “Thrift Shop” rapper and called for him to be dropped from Sheeran’s Loop Tour.

Firing Back

The post quickly drew backlash against Pink, with some fans accusing her of appearing to side with Israel. The “Just Give Me a Reason” singer addressed the criticism in a lengthy Instagram statement Friday. “I’ve been quiet in my own words for a week, which you know isn’t like me. So here they are,” Pink wrote.

“I was born a Jew,” she said. “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.”

Pink, whose real name is Alecia Moore, then explained her position on the war in Gaza.

“Of course I don’t speak for Israel, or for any government. I never have,” she said.

“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.”

She also clarified that her objection was not to the words “Free Palestine,” but specifically to Macklemore.

Pink recalled supporting him when he performed “Same Love” at the 2014 Grammys. However, she said that 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.'”

“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,” she said.

Giving Her Point of View

She then addressed his performance at the recent concerts, saying: “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.”

“You don’t get to decide that for us,” she added.

Pink said Macklemore’s remarks frightened her and that she wanted to express those concerns as a Jewish mother. “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?” she said.

Pink stressed she was not calling for Macklemore to lose his place on the tour or for his views to be suppressed. “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.”

She also highlighted her long record of speaking out on political issues, including her 2006 song “Dear Mr. President,” which addressed 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.”

“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.”

Macklemore, meanwhile, has defended his comments, reposting a video of his speech on Instagram and saying he partly agreed to tour with Sheeran because it gave him an opportunity to say “Free Palestine” before a large audience.