Javier Bardem shares petition to remove Pink as UNICEF ambassador over Macklemore Palestine row

Javier Bardem has shared a petition calling for Pink to be removed as a UNICEF ambassador over her response to Macklemore ’s recent pro-Palestine comments.

READ MORE: Maruja on their “life-affirming” year and punk’s 50th anniversary: “Do what you think is right and share that with the world” The actor re-shared several posts to his Instagram Stories on Monday (September 21) encouraging his followers to sign a Change.org petition asking UNICEF to remove the singer from the role.

The petition, which was launched on September 11 by a group calling itself Swifties Against Genocide, has now surpassed 179,000 signatures.

It argues that Pink’s recent comments are “incompatible with the role of a UNICEF Ambassador” and calls for the organisation to take “decisive action” by removing her.

Pink has been a UNICEF ambassador since 2015, working in particular to raise awareness of the organisation’s global health and nutrition programmes for children.

The row began after Macklemore made an impassioned speech while supporting Ed Sheeran at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey earlier this month.

View this post on Instagram During shows on September 4 and 5 , the rapper called for “all human beings to be treated with dignity, respect, and equality”, said he wanted people in Gaza and the West Bank to know “they have not been forgotten”, and declared “Free Palestine” before performing his song ‘Hind’s Hall’ as footage from Gaza was shown on the screens behind him.

Pink subsequently shared an Instagram post from the group StopAntisemitism that criticised the set, describing Macklemore’s performance as “anti-Israel propaganda” and disputing his characterisation of Israel’s actions in Gaza as genocide.

She later addressed the backlash at length , explaining that she did not agree with all of the language in the post she had shared.

“A repost isn’t a statement, and a meme isn’t a spine,” she wrote.

“Social media makes all of us cheap and fast, and we all know it.” Pink said her objection had not been to Macklemore saying “Free Palestine” or to his right to do so, and insisted she had not called for him to lose his place on the tour.

“I have never asked for another artist to be silenced and I’m not asking now,” she said.

“I don’t need anyone fired, and I don’t need a refund.” Macklemore subsequently defended his New Jersey speech , saying: “Wanting all humans to be treated equal should never be controversial.” The Israeli-American Council separately called for him to be removed from Sheeran’s tour, claiming that he had used the concerts to “advance a one-sided political agenda”.