Ms. Rachel Says Backlash Over Gaza Posts Doesn't Faze Her as She Calls Out Celebrity Silence
Children's YouTube star Ms. Rachel told Rolling Stone that criticism over her Gaza advocacy no longer fazes her, as she accused celebrities of staying silent and a Jewish group pushed back on her claims.
Children's YouTube star Ms. Rachel said the backlash she faced over her social media posts about Gaza no longer fazes her, telling Rolling Stone that she will keep speaking out for Palestinian children regardless of the professional cost. The entertainer, whose real name is Rachel Griffin Accurso, has become one of the most recognizable children's figures online, and her decision to wade into the Israel-Hamas war has placed her at the center of a heated public debate.
Accurso said the intensity of the criticism caught her off guard at first. She recalled reaching out to friends and family, Jewish and non-Jewish alike, to ask why her concern for children in Gaza provoked such anger. «I thought everyone hated me at one point,» she said. «I remember calling friends and family members, Jewish and not Jewish, and just being like, ‘Why do people hate that I don’t want kids to be killed and starved?’»
Despite the pushback, Accurso said she has no plans to soften her position. She framed her advocacy as a debt owed to the young audience that built her platform, saying she is willing to accept lost partnerships or declining viewership. «You’re gonna lose this partnership. You’re gonna lose views. That doesn’t faze me because the kids gave me the platform. I’m going to stand with them no matter what,» she said. She added that people on the ground in Gaza risk their lives daily to help children, and that she can contribute from Manhattan.
Her comments came days after she accused celebrities who have not spoken out about Gaza of applying a racial double standard to which children they value. In an Instagram post, she argued that public figures would likely respond differently if the children affected were White and from another part of the world, and she urged them to «stop being racist and risk something.»
Accurso also joined other progressives in criticizing singer Ed Sheeran after Macklemore was removed as the opening act for his tour. Macklemore had repeatedly called for a «Free Palestine» and performed his anti-Israel song «Hind’s Hall» during his set. Accurso wrote that Sheeran had an opportunity to show that artists would not be bullied into punishing those who support Palestine, but instead «caved to people who refuse to accept what the world knows.» She added that if more than 20,000 White children were killed elsewhere, everyone would be shouting about it at concerts, and that «silence during a genocide is not neutral.»
The remarks have drawn sharp criticism from pro-Israel organizations and groups that say her posts have shared anti-Israel propaganda by repeatedly accusing Israel of committing «genocide.» Rabbi Yaakov Menken, executive vice president of the Coalition for Jewish Values, said in a statement that attempts to dress up Jew-hatred as a righteous cause are not new, and that no one is criticizing Accurso because she does not want children to be killed and starved.
Menken argued that Accurso claims to care about 35.5 million children suffering from acute malnutrition across Africa, the Middle East, and Asia, yet spends an inordinate amount of time speaking about roughly 31,000 children in Gaza. «When 0.09% of starving children receive 90% of her attention, something is wrong,» he said. He also said she had nothing to say about Israeli children being held hostage until seven months later, when the backlash became too loud to ignore, and concluded that her problem is not a deep concern for children but that she is using that concern to mask something darker.
Accurso has previously spoken out on other political issues, including the Trump administration's deportation policies and LGBTQ activism, but her comments on the Israel-Hamas war have drawn the most aggressive criticism, according to Rolling Stone. Fox News Digital reached out to Accurso for comment but did not immediately receive a response. The episode underscores the growing pressure on popular online figures to take positions on international conflicts, and the reputational risks that come with doing so.
