Pink has broken her silence regarding the backlash she faced for reposting criticism of Macklemore’s pro‑Palestinian remarks at Ed Sheeran’s MetLife Stadium shows.
“I’ve been quiet in my own words for a week, which you know isn’t like me. So here they are,” Pink, 47, began in an Instagram statement on Friday, September 11.
The singer continued, “Last Sunday I reposted somebody else’s post about Macklemore’s set at Ed Sheeran’s show. It said things in words I didn’t write, and I wouldn’t have chosen all of them. Then the comments came, and I did what I do when I’m hurt, which is post snarky memes and act like I’m fine. That’s on me.”
While performing his opening set at Sheeran’s concerts in New Jersey on September 4 and 5, Macklemore, 43, chanted “Free Palestine” and performed his protest track “Hind’s Hall.” He stated that his primary reason for doing the stadium shows was to advocate for Palestine amid the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict over land in the Middle East.
Following Macklemore’s statement, critics petitioned to have the rapper removed from the remaining dates of the Loop Tour. Pink ultimately reposted a message from StopAntisemitism accusing Macklemore of spreading “anti‑Israel propaganda.” She later took to her Instagram Story to share several memes amid backlash over her response.
“A repost isn’t a statement, and a meme isn’t a spine,” she wrote on Friday. “Social media makes all of us cheap and fast, and we all know it. But I’d rather be disagreed with for what I actually said than hated for what anybody else wrote, so let me say it.”
“I was born a Jew. I didn’t pick it, and I’ve never hidden it,” Pink continued. “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 then recalled her past advocacy for both sides of the conflict.
“Of course I don’t speak for Israel, or for any government. I never have. What I said in October 2023 is still exactly what I believe: Hamas is a terrorist organization,” she wrote. “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. 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. I didn’t do it from behind a screen; I went to those children and held them. I’m not going to litigate a complex war in an Instagram caption, and I’m not going to recite anybody’s slogan to earn back a follower.”
Pink added that she’s now “standing up for my own people.”
“‘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,” she wrote. “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.”
She continued, “l’ve been portrayed as the villain before. I can take it. I just won’t take it quietly, and I’m not going to teach my kids to. So, to the ones who are furious with me: you don’t have to agree with me. You never did. That’s been our unspoken agreement for 25 years, and it still stands, and so do I.”
She concluded, “To the ones who are frightened this week, Jewish or Muslim or Palestinian or Israeli or just tired of all of it: I see you. And if anybody wants to really know what I think, just ask me. I’m right here. I’ve never been hard to find. And I’ll keep speaking out, in my own words.”
