Pink spent nearly a week letting a repost about Macklemore stand without a fuller explanation. On Friday, she decided that was not enough.
The singer issued a lengthy statement after facing backlash for sharing a StopAntisemitism post criticizing Macklemore’s pro-Palestinian remarks during his opening sets for Ed Sheeran at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey. Pink acknowledged that the original post used language she would not necessarily have chosen herself. “A repost isn’t a statement, and a meme isn’t a spine,” she wrote, according to Entertainment Weekly.
Pink also rejected the assumption that criticizing Macklemore meant she opposed Palestinian rights. She said Hamas is a terrorist organization, Palestinians deserve a future that respects their humanity and aspirations, and innocent lives should be protected regardless of where they are.
Pink said she was disturbed by Macklemore telling Jewish listeners that his criticism of Israel and accusations against the Israeli government were not criticism of them. As a Jewish mother, she said he could not decide how Jewish people in the stadium should feel about what they were watching and hearing.
Pink Says ‘Free Palestine’ Was Not What Prompted Her Repost
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Pink said the phrase “Free Palestine” itself was not the reason she shared the original post, nor was she objecting to Macklemore’s right to express that position.
“That’s what prompted my repost. Not ‘Free Palestine,’ and not anyone’s right to say it,” she wrote in the statement reproduced by Variety.
She also said she was not asking for Macklemore to be silenced, fired or removed from Sheeran’s tour. Pink said she wanted to be able to explain that the performance frightened her and people she knows without having other political beliefs assigned to her.
Macklemore had addressed Jewish audience members during his September 5 MetLife performance while defending his statements about Israel. He said criticism of Israel, accusations of apartheid and opposition to what he calls genocide were not criticism of Jewish people, adding that his message was about peace, dignity and equal treatment.
Pink said that reassurance was precisely where her discomfort began. “You don’t get to decide that for us,” she wrote, arguing that Jewish people in the audience were entitled to decide for themselves how the presentation affected them.
The 2014 Costume Controversy Also Shaped Pink’s Reaction
Pink said her response was influenced by an older controversy involving Macklemore that she had previously considered settled.
She recalled attending the 2014 Grammy Awards when Macklemore and Ryan Lewis performed “Same Love” as 33 couples were married during the broadcast. Pink said she cheered for the performance and supported its message.
Several months later, Macklemore appeared during a surprise performance in Seattle wearing a black wig, beard and large prosthetic nose. The costume was widely criticized for resembling an antisemitic caricature. Macklemore denied that intention and apologized to anyone he had offended, explaining that he had assembled the disguise randomly so he could move through the event without being recognized.
Pink said she accepted that apology at the time. The memory resurfaced for her after the MetLife performances and affected how she heard Macklemore’s latest comments.
Macklemore Says His Message Is About Equal Treatment
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Macklemore has continued defending the message he delivered during Sheeran’s New Jersey shows.
During the first MetLife performance, he told the stadium that he wanted people in Gaza and the West Bank to know they had not been forgotten and said every person deserved the same freedom. He also performed “Hind’s Hall,” his 2024 protest song supporting the pro-Palestinian student movement.
The following night, Macklemore addressed the criticism directly and spoke to Jewish listeners. “My message is for peace,” he said, before calling for people to be treated with dignity, respect and equality. He later posted footage from the performance and wrote that wanting all human beings to be treated equally should not be controversial.
The performances prompted the Israeli-American Council to call for Macklemore to be removed from Sheeran’s tour. The organization argued that concertgoers had attended an entertainment event rather than a political rally and objected to how the war and Israel were presented.
Pink made clear in her own statement that she was not adopting every demand contained in the criticism she originally reposted.
Pink Said She Wanted People to Disagree With Her Own Words
Pink also addressed the reaction directed at her after the repost, saying people had filled in political positions she had never actually stated.
She wrote that she does not speak for Israel or any government and pointed to her work as a UNICEF ambassador while explaining her concern for children affected by war. What frustrated her, she said, was seeing people decide what she believed based on a single repost before she had explained herself.
“I’d rather be disagreed with for what I actually said than hated for what anybody else wrote,” she wrote.
Pink finished the statement on the evening of September 11, which also marked the beginning of Rosh Hashanah at sundown. She said she was leaving the online argument to make dinner for her children, light candles and dip apples in honey.
“Shana tova,” she wrote.