Ms. Rachel to Match Macklemore's $1M Donation for Palestinian Causes
Children's YouTube star Ms. Rachel pledged to match Macklemore's $1 million donation to Palestinian relief groups and called on wealthy White celebrities to do the same, while pro-Israel groups criticized her stance.
Children's YouTube star Ms. Rachel announced she will match singer Macklemore's $1 million donation to Palestinian causes and urged every wealthy White celebrity to do the same, escalating a public dispute over celebrity activism and the war in Gaza.
In an Instagram post, Rachel Griffin Accurso, known to millions of families as Ms. Rachel, wrote that she plans to match Macklemore's contribution and called specifically on White celebrities to follow suit. «I will match Macklemore's donation and I invite every wealthy White celebrity to match it and speak out against the genocide in Gaza,» she wrote, adding that her donation will go to the Palestine Children's Relief Fund. She said more than 20,000 Palestinian children have been killed and that children continue to die daily. «We have a moral obligation to use our privilege and platforms to protect children and human rights,» she added.
The pledge came after Macklemore, a 43-year-old rapper, said he would donate earnings from his Loop Tour with Ed Sheeran to six organizations, including the Palestine Children's Relief Fund, HEAL Palestine, Gaza Soup Kitchen, Medical Aid for Palestinians, UNRWA USA National Committee and American Near East Refugee Aid. Macklemore was dropped from Sheeran's tour earlier this week after repeatedly calling for a «Free Palestine» and performing his anti-Israel song «Hind's Hall» during an opening set at MetLife Stadium this month.
Macklemore has also challenged New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft to match his donation after Kraft declined to host the rapper at Gillette Stadium because of his activism. Kraft responded that he had already committed $2 million to Palestinian aid in the region, citing his longtime humanitarian work in the Middle East.
Accurso has been a vocal critic of celebrity silence on the conflict. She was among several prominent progressives who criticized Sheeran after Macklemore's removal, suggesting that silence on the cause was racist. «If more than 20,000 White children were killed in another part of the world, everyone would be shouting about it at their concerts,» she said. «Treating some children's lives as less worthy of outrage is racist. Silence during a genocide is not neutral.»
Her comments have drawn sharp criticism from pro-Israel organizations and groups that accuse her of sharing anti-Israel propaganda by repeatedly accusing the Jewish state of committing «genocide.» Rabbi Yaakov Menken, executive vice president of the Coalition for Jewish Values, said in a statement that Accurso claims to care about 35.5 million children suffering from acute malnutrition across Africa, the Middle East and Asia but spends an inordinate amount of time speaking about the children in Gaza. «When 0.09% of starving children receive 90% of her attention, something is wrong,» he said. He added that she had nothing to say about Israeli children being held hostage until seven months later, when the backlash became too loud to ignore. «It is clear that her problem is not a deep concern for children, but that she is using her purported deep concern to mask something much darker,» Menken said.
Accurso has previously said that backlash over her Gaza posts does not faze her and has called out celebrity silence on the issue. Fox News Digital reached out to Accurso for comment but did not immediately receive a response. The exchange highlights the growing pressure on public figures to take sides in the debate over the war, and the competing campaigns by pro-Palestinian and pro-Israel advocates to influence celebrities and their audiences.
