Javier Bardem calls for Pink to removed as UNICEF ambassador after Macklemore controversy
Javier Bardem has shared a petition calling for Pink to be removed as a UNICEF ambassador after she criticised Macklemore's ‘Free Palestine’ message during Ed Sheeran's tour.
The 57-year-old Spanish actor took to his Instagram Story on Wednesday (23 September) to urge his 1.6 million social media followers to sign the Change.org petition.
It claims that the singer’s statements ‘fueled ongoing conflict and struggles for visibility and empathy'.
The description explained: “As individuals who care deeply about the welfare of children around the world, we must hold UNICEF Ambassadors to the highest standards of neutrality and compassion."
It added that Palestinian children 'deserve ambassadors who unequivocally extend support and empathy towards their plight'.
Pink's comments, it said, were 'incompatible with the role of a UNICEF Ambassador', who should 'uphold the rights and dignity of all children, regardless of political affiliations or geographic boundaries'.
It went on: “UNICEF is actively helping children and families in Gaza and throughout the region."
The group that started the petition, who are named as ‘Swifties Against Genocide,’ proposed that UNICEF ‘take decisive action and remove Pink as an ambassador’.
They penned: “This move would reaffirm UNICEF's commitment to impartiality and its dedication to all children, irrespective of nationality or heritage.”
At the time of writing, the petition sits at 183,000 signatures, with a goal of hitting one million.
Bardem has regularly spoken out about the horrific situation in Gaza. At this year's Oscars, while presenting the award for Best International Film, he said on stage: "No to war and Free Palestine.”
He told AFP at this year's Cannes Film Festival: "I think it's important to be able to express your point of view, knowing that there will be people who agree and people who don't."
What did Pink say?
We all know by now that Ed Sheeran pulled Macklemore from his tour after he spoke out over the atrocities in Gaza, claiming that the venues wouldn’t host the remaining shows if he stayed on the bill.
The rapper said on stage: “A big part of the reason why I wanted to do this tour in the first place is so I could stand up in stadiums like this and say two words that are very near and dear to my heart: Free Palestine.
“I want those words to be loud and clear, so that people all the way in Gaza to the occupied West Bank know that we have not forgotten about them.”
However, Pink got involved in the dispute between the two artists when she reshared a post criticising Macklemore's speech.
She later clarified her stance on Instagram, while mentioning that she’s been a UNICEF ambassador for a decade.
The singer, whose real name is Alecia Beth Moore-Hart, wrote: “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. 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.”
The star continued: “I 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.
“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.
“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.”
She said her feelings about Macklemore have changed throughout his career, from when he performed his song ‘Same Love’ at the Grammys in 2014 and 33 couples married on air to when months later, he performed in a costume that was widely interpreted to be a Jewish caricature. He later apologised to anyone who was offended by the costume.
Pink explained: “I let it go, because that’s what we do. We let it go. Then last weekend he stood in front of a stadium full of music-loving families, with violent images from a war on the screens, dedicated a song to the movement of his choice, and then took the mic to tell all of the Jews in the stadium that it wasn’t about them. You don’t get to decide that for us.
“That’s what prompted my repost. Not ‘Free Palestine,’ and not anyone’s right to say it. I have never asked for another artist to be silenced, and I’m not asking now. I don’t need anyone fired, and I don’t need a refund. What I need is to be able to say, as a Jewish mom, ‘that scared me, and it scared people I love,’ without being told our fear is just propaganda, and without being told I’m somehow cool with genocide because I noticed?”
She told the ‘ones who are furious with me’ that ‘you don’t have to agree with me’ and told ‘the ones who are frightened this week, Jewish or Muslim or Palestinian or Israeli or just tired of all of it: I see you'.
Pink concluded: “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.”
Tyla has contacted a representative fr Pink and UNICEF for comment.
Topics: News, Celebrity, Entertainment, World News
Madison Burgess