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Children’s YouTube star Ms. Rachel announced Thursday that she plans to match singer Macklemore’s $1 million donation to Palestinian causes and urged “every wealthy White celebrity” to do the same.
In an Instagram post Wednesday, Macklemore shared his plans to donate his earnings from the Loop Tour with Ed Sheeran to six organizations, including the Palestine Children’s Relief Fund (PCRF), HEAL Palestine, Gaza Soup Kitchen, Medical Aid for Palestinians, UNRWA USA National Committee and American Near East Refugee Aid (ANERA).
The 43-year-old rapper was dropped from Sheeran’s tour Monday after he repeatedly called for a “Free Palestine” and performed his anti-Israel song “Hind’s Hall” during his opening performance at MetLife Stadium earlier this month.
MS RACHEL SAYS BACKLASH OVER HER GAZA POSTS ‘DOESN’T FAZE’ HER AS SHE CALLS OUT CELEBRITY SILENCE
Ms. Rachel supported singer Macklemore after he was recently dropped from Ed Sheeran’s tour after calling for a “Free Palestine” and performing an anti-Israel song as his opening act. (Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for the Committee for the First Amendment)
In response, Ms. Rachel, whose real name is Rachel Griffin Accurso, wrote on Instagram that she plans to match Macklemore’s donation and called specifically on White celebrities to do the same.
“I will match Macklemore’s donation and I invite every wealthy White celebrity to match it and speak out against the genocide in Gaza,” Accurso wrote, adding that she will be donating to the PCRF.
“Over 20,000 precious Palestinian children have been killed and children continue to be killed every day. We have a moral obligation to use our privilege and platforms to protect children and human rights.”
Digital reached out to Accurso for comment but did not immediately receive a response.
Macklemore has challenged New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft to match his donation after Kraft refused 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, referencing his longtime humanitarian work in the Middle East.
MS. RACHEL CLAIMS CELEBRITIES SILENT ON GAZA WOULD ‘PROBABLY’ SPEAK IF CHILDREN ‘WERE WHITE’
Macklemore donated $1 million to Palestinian causes, urging others to do the same. (Redferns via Getty Images)
Accurso was also one of several prominent progressives who called out Sheeran after Macklemore’s removal as the opening act for Sheeran’s tour, suggesting silence to 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,” Accurso said. “Treating some children’s lives as less worthy of outrage is racist. Silence during a genocide is not neutral.”
Accurso has been criticized by pro-Israel organizations and groups that say her posts have shared anti-Israel propaganda by repeatedly accusing the Jewish nation of committing “genocide.”
BILL MAHER RIPS MACKLEMORE’S GAZA STANCE, SAYS CELEBRITY ‘MORAL CONFUSION’ IS FUELING ANTISEMITISM
Ms. Rachel, whose real name is Rachel Griffin Accurso, has increasingly spoken out in favor of progressive causes using her children’s entertainer brand. (Nathan Congleton/NBC via Getty Images)
Rabbi Yaakov Menken, the executive vice president of the Coalition for Jewish Values, previously said in a statement to Digital, “She 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 0.031 million children in Gaza. When 0.09% of starving children receive 90% of her attention, something is wrong.
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“She had nothing to say about Israeli children being held hostage until seven months later, when the backlash became too loud to ignore,” he added. “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.”
‘ Ashley Hume contributed to this report.
