Pink: ‘I was born a Jew. I’ve never hidden it
Pink has broken her silence on the Macklemore controversy, writing a deeply personal statement about fear and identity, and what it feels like to be a Jewish mother.
It has been a week of noise, backlash and thousands of angry comments regarding Macklemore’s set at Ed Sheeran’s concert in the US. But when Pink finally broke her silence on Friday, she did it in the most personal way possible. She was not a pop star playing politics. She was a Jew, and a Jewish mother, who was scared.
The three-time Grammy winner published a statement of more than 1000 words on Instagram, addressing the firestorm that erupted after she shared a post criticising rapper Macklemore’s politically charged opening set.
The controversy began on September 4 when Macklemore took to the stage at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey. Wearing a keffiyeh, the rapper performed his 2024 protest song Hind’s Hall as images from the war in Gaza played on screens behind him. He told the crowd that one of the main reasons he joined the tour was so he could stand in stadiums and say “Free Palestine”.
Some concertgoers cheered, while others walked out, and within hours, the backlash was in full swing.
Pink, born Alecia Moore, reshared an Instagram story from Jewish advocacy group StopAntisemitism that accused Macklemore of pushing “anti-Israel propaganda” and called for apologies and refunds. She did not add her own words, and many followers attributed the entire message to her. What followed was a wave of personal attacks, calls to boycott her music, and fans declaring they were done with her.
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