Pink Defends Herself After Slamming Macklemore's Pro-Palestinian Comments

Pink broke her silence after facing backlash over a repost connected to Macklemore's pro-Palestinian message, addressing the criticism in a lengthy Instagram statement Friday, September 11.

"I've been quiet in my own words for a week, which you know isn't like me. So here they are," the three-time Grammy winner wrote in a post. "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."

Pink acknowledged that her response to the criticism was counterproductive.

"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. A repost isn't a statement, and a meme isn't a spine," she wrote.

The singer-songwriter also addressed how quickly social media can turn a complicated issue into a dispute over individual posts.

Pink said she wanted the discussion to focus on her actual words, rather than language that had been added to content she shared.

Pink's statement then turned to the assumptions she said had been made about her faith during the backlash.

"I was born a Jew. I didn't pick it, and I've never hidden it," she wrote. "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."

Her comments then moved to the broader conflict and a position she said she had already expressed nearly three years earlier.

"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. Palestinians deserve a future that honors their humanity and their aspirations," asserted the "So What" hitmaker.

Pink also pointed to her work with UNICEF while discussing the devastating impact war can have on children.

"Protecting innocent life comes first, everywhere, and nobody should ever celebrate the death of a child. Anybody's child," she wrote.

"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," she added.

The singer closed her statement by setting a limit on how she intended to discuss the conflict publicly.

"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," she wrote.

The controversy followed Macklemore's appearances at Sheeran's MetLife Stadium shows in New Jersey on September 4 and 5. Macklemore performed "Hind's Hall" during the concerts and voiced support for Palestinians.

Pink later reposted a StopAntisemitism message criticizing the performance, prompting criticism directed at her.