Mumbai, Sep 12 (IANS) Singer Pink has spoken out about her Jewish identity and the backlash she faced after a social media repost, saying she would rather be disagreed with for her own words than judged for something she didn’t write.
Pink wrote a long post on Instagram, where she has clarified her views on the Israel-Gaza conflict while speaking about her Jewish identity and calling for the protection of innocent lives on all sides.
She wrote: “I’ve been quiet in my own words for a week, which you know isn’t like me. So here they are. 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.”
She shared that a “repost isn’t a statement, and a meme isn’t a spine.”
“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,” Pink said.
Pink said she was born “a Jew”.
“I didn’t pick it, and I’ve never hidden it. 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.”
The singer said that she doesn’t speak for “Israel, or for any government.”
“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,” she wrote.
“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 says she is standing up for her Jewish identity despite backlash, rejecting assumptions about her views while calling for the safety and humanity of Jews, Palestinians, Muslims and Israelis. She says she will continue speaking out in her own words.
“And now I’m standing up for my own people, and I thought I knew going in how lonely that would be. And it’s lonelier than that. But I’m doing it anyway. Something has changed in this country, and can read it in my own comments.”
Pink says she feels people have unfairly labelled her and assumed her views, but she refuses to stay silent about her Jewish identity and beliefs.
“From the river to the sea.” “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. I wasn’t asked. I was told. I don’t think most of them hate Jews.”
She said that she can handle being portrayed as the “villain” but won’t accept it quietly.
Pink says that no one has to agree with one thing “Israel’s government does to not want the Jewish family two rows down from you to be scared or targeted at a concert. That’s the scared or targeted at a concert. That’s the only thing I’m asking anybody for.”
“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. It’s Friday.”
“For working people who have more to worry about than pop stars and pile- ons, it’s the end of a hard week. It’s also the 25th anniversary of September 11th, and my prayers are with the innocent souls we lost that morning.”
“And at sundown, for Jews, it’s Rosh Hashanah, our New Year. Now I’m going to go make dinner for my kids, light the candles, dip some apples in honey, pour a glass of wine and be full of gratitude. That’s my tradition. It also happens to be a Jewish one. Shana tova.”
–IANS
dc/