This week, beloved children’s YouTuberMs. Rachel started a fundraiser for Save the Children, a charity NGO that sends humanitarian support to kids in crisis around the world. Somehow, this decision has been so divisive that Ms. Rachel, whose full name is Rachel Accurso, recently posted an Instagram video in tears, sharing that she’d experienced “bullying” following the fundraiser. What??
The backlash appears to have started earlier this week, when Accurso, a popular YouTube personality best known for her educational video series Songs for Littles, announced a plan to accept 500 video requests on Cameo and donate all the profits to Save the Children’s Emergency Fund. In a series of Instagram posts, Accurso explained that the money “will go to children living in conflict: Gaza, Sudan, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ukraine.” “Children should never experience the horrors of war,” she said in her first announcement, adding in another post that “we should be ashamed of how children around the world are suffering.” In a thank-you video she shared once the Cameo requests had come in, she said, “Children have fundamental human rights: Water, food, medical care, shelter, protection from violence, education. These rights are being violated, and these violations need to stop.”
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The inclusion of Gaza, which has been described by activists, U.N. officials, and global health organizations as an unprecedented humanitarian crisis that’s left an estimated 850,000 children short on food, water, shelter, or health care, has apparently angered a loud group of people who feel Accurso should have included Israeli children in her cause. One woman told the Times of Israel she felt “triggered” that Accurso had made a “deliberate attempt … to never mention Israeli children.” (To be clear, Save the Children does not have an existing presence in Israel.) Comments for allMs. Rachel’s posts related to the fundraiser have been disabled, though that hasn’t stopped people from asking her about her stance on Israeli children in the comments sections of other, unrelated posts.
On Thursday, Accurso posted a video of herself in tears. “The bullying is so bad. It’s so bad. But I can handle this,” she said. “Saying I don’t care about kids is … it just hurts so bad.” She wrote in the caption, “I care deeply for all children. Palestinian children, Israeli children, children in the US — Muslim, Jewish, Christian children — all children, in every country.” She concluded, “To do a fundraiser for children who are currently starving — who have no food or water — who are being killed — is human.”
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Fortunately, Accurso also seems to have a hefty number of followers who’ve rallied behind her for wanting to help children in crisis. A lot of commenters have praised her for supporting the Palestinian cause (though her videos have largely skewed politically neutral and emphasized wanting to help all children). Regardless, the words “we ride at dawn” have been uttered in multiple comments. I hope she knows her troops are rallying.
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Danielle Cohen , 2024-05-17 23:08:22
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