If you believe that babies can tell when a person is truly good, then it should be no surprise thatMs Rachel– the beloved kids YouTube sensation – has remained on theright sideof every socio-political debate since the image of her pink tee and denim dungarees became ubiquitous in households with children across the world.
But when Ms Rachel, whose given name is Rachel Griffin Accurso, beganspeaking outabout the genocide inGaza, pro-Israelrightwingers put a massive target on her back.
Accurso first made her stance public around May 2024, when she announced a fundraiser for children in Gaza and other war zones. Since then, she’s consistently drawn attention to the tragedy in Palestine bysharingstatistics on the crisis along with images of Palestinian children to her social media audience of tens of millions of followers, and the right has been after her since.
Back in March, the New York Post ran anarticleabout Accurso calling her a “Woke brainwasher” and warning parents against the influence they were allowing into their homes.
Then, last month, the pro-Israel group StopAntisemitism asked the Department of Justiceto investigatewhether Ms Rachel was operating as a foreign agent because of her posts about Gazan children. In an open letter to the US attorney general, Pam Bondi, they asked authorities to find out whether Accurso was “being remunerated to disseminate Hamas-aligned propaganda to her millions of followers”.
Meanwhile,tens of thousands of childrenhave been killed or injured in Gaza since Israel began its onslaught in retaliation for Hamas’s 7 October 2023 attack – and Israel isn’t letting up, even aschildren face starvation. Last Saturday,Israeli airstrikes killednine of a Gaza doctor’s 10 children while she worked. If speaking up about a genocide makes you a foreign agent, what does that say about America’s own values?
“I care deeply for all children. Palestinian children, Israeli children, children in the US – Muslim, Jewish, Christian children – all children, in every country,” Accursosaidthrough tears on Instagram video from May of 2024. “To do a fundraiser for children who are currently starving, who have no food or water, who are being killed, is human.”
For this kind of thing – caring about innocent children – to be controversial is a clear sign of just how far we’ve strayed from our moral core as a society, and a reminder of the inhumanity that pervades this political moment.
One of the distinct markers of pro-Israel rhetoric in recent times has been the way it intentionally and violently rejects the idea of children being vulnerable and innocent. Israel’s supporters feel emboldened to castbabiesas collateral damage at best, and “enemies” at their most truly unhinged. And the pro-Israel crowd is angry at Accurso because in a war that does not want us to see them as such, she constantly reminds us that Palestinian children are people, and are deserving of the same kind of care and protection that the west gives its young.
Her love for children has also made her an easy target for conservatives who like to label LGBTQ+ people and their allies as creeps and pedophiles looking to groom children. Last year, when Accurso shared a video celebrating Pride month on herInstagramandTikTokaccounts (which are geared toward her adult supporters, of course), rightwing influencers called her “sick” andcomplainedthat she was exposing children to “things they shouldn’t be exposed to”.
For me, Accurso’s speaking out also shines a harsh light on the absolute dearth of outrage from other far more powerful and influential celebrities. This month, more than 300 celebrities and Hollywood figuressignedan open letter condemning the industry’s silence on the genocide. This belated effort falls flat when you consider how people with much less power and way more to lose have risked their livelihoods and safety to speak up for what is right.
Overall, though, the hatred for Accurso isn’t just aboutGaza. As a public figure, she is an indictment of everything that rightwingers want us to believe is bad. She’s all about big feelings, standing up for vulnerable people, making people from all walks of life feel included, and celebrating what makes us different. Of course the right hates that.
Figures like Accurso are an aberration in a world where bad news generates the most clicks and we are all supposed to be desensitized to the ways vulnerable people continue to have their lives, and the few protections they have left, snatched away from them.
Tayo Bero is a Guardian US columnist