Latest news with #StopAntisemitism
Yahoo
19 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Popular Kids Entertainer Says She'll Risk Her Career To Stand Up For Children In Gaza
A modern-day Mr. Rogers is not backing down. Ms. Rachel, an extremely popular YouTuber whom toddlers may adore even more than chicken nuggets and bubbles, told NPR's 'Here and Now' Tuesday that she's willing to risk her career to advocate for children in Gaza. 'I wouldn't be Ms. Rachel if I didn't deeply care about all kids,' she told the outlet. 'And I would risk everything, and I will risk my career over and over to stand up for them. It's all about the kids for me.' There's quite a bit at stake. Ms. Rachel, whose full name is Rachel Accurso, has over 15 million subscribers on her YouTube channel, where kiddos tune in to watch the chipper children's educator teach and sing in her trademark overalls and pink headband. She has a Netflix deal where episodes of her interactive teaching program are available with subtitles in 33 languages. She's also got a toy chest's worth of merch. Accurso first made her stance about kids in Gaza public in 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 the territory — but last month, she seemed to hit a nerve. On May 21, she posted a video to her social media accounts in which she sang her popular song 'Hop Little Bunnies' while a 3-year-old girl from Gaza named Rahaf, who lost her legs in an airstrike, danced beside her. In response to the video, the pro-Israel group StopAntisemitism — which the Guardian says 'doxes people it deems antisemitic' — wrote a letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi calling on her to investigate Ms. Rachel for being 'remunerated to disseminate Hamas-aligned propaganda to her millions of followers.' Ms. Rachel admitted to NPR that she finds the pushback 'painful,' but has continued her advocacy. 'It's really painful. And I have to remind myself that people don't know my heart, and people try to tell you who you are, but you know who you are,' she said. 'And I know how deeply and equally I care for all children, and I do lean on my faith in that situation.' She doubled down on her stance on Tuesday with a statement on social media. 'I stand against all forms of hate and violence — including antisemitism, anti-Palestinian hate, anti-Arab hate, anti-Muslim hate and all hate meant to divide us and cause harm rather than bring us together,' she wrote. 'Every child, person and every family deserves to feel valued, loved and safe.' She continued, 'Let's continue to model empathy, compassion and teach our children that we are all connected.' 'When we hate, deny people human rights and attack each other, we all suffer,' she concluded. 'When we love, respect all people's human rights and show compassion, we all thrive. We all rise.' Ms. Rachel also illustrated on Tuesday how her advocacy extends to every child by posting an Instagram Story in support of the Jewish community after a man attacked a peaceful protest calling for the release of Israeli hostages in Boulder, Colorado, on Sunday. 'Our hearts are with the Boulder Jewish Community and everyone impacted by this horrendous violence,' she wrote. Israeli Forces Kill At Least 27 People On Their Way To Aid Site In Gaza 'Indiscriminate, Unrestrained, Brutal': Former Israeli PM Calls Gaza Assault 'War Crimes' Israel's Latest Strikes In Gaza Kill 38 People Including Children
Telegraph
a day ago
- Business
- Telegraph
The former nursery teacher building a YouTube empire
For most people, Rachel Accurso's January deal with Netflix for four episodes of Ms. Rachel – with the promise of more to come later this year – barely registered, if at all. And most people couldn't understand why pro-Israel group StopAntisemitism would be pressing US attorney general to investigate whether this same Rachel Accurso was operating as a pro-Hamas foreign agent. For parents, however, the Netflix deal was more important than Taylor Swift and Timothee Chalamet joining a reboot of Friends for the streamer. And Accurso's take on Gaza was a headline grabbing controversy that caused rows on Mumsnet. Accurso is a kids' YouTuber and host of a show called Songs for Littles. She's both integral to the Netflix business plan a lightning rod for the culture wars - one suspected by the pro-Israel group StopAntisemitism to be operating as a pro-Hamas foreign agent (a claim she vehemently denies). But watching a Ms Rachel video, you wouldn't immediately pick that up. Fair warning, unless you're watching with your child, it's not the most riveting content. Even with a pre-schooler, it is not really a shareable experience, unless it's about 4pm, you're still in your pyjamas, the floor is a mess, and you've opened the wine early again. In an episode titled Learning with Words and Colors for Toddlers, for instance, Ms Rachel appears in her uniform of pink shirt and denim dungarees in front of a brightly coloured animated background. 'Hi friends. I'm so excited to learn with you today,' she says. An animated egg appears next to her. 'What's that? It's a surprise egg. Yes. Maybe if we say open, it will open! Can you say open?' Pause. 'Open. Wow! it's a ball!' She looks at the ball and the screen in delighted surprise. 'Red ball. Red ball. Maybe if you say ball the ball will bounce. Say ball. Say ball. Say…' Pause. 'Ball.' The ball starts bouncing. And so on. She has an excited, open face and the patience to pause just long enough to encourage pre-schoolers to try for each word. And she's so wholesome she's somehow found the Platonic ideal shape of everyone's favourite primary school teacher. So parents love her for many things, not least of which is the length of her videos. Most are, at minimum, 30 minutes long whilst episodes of Songs for Littles, which sees her romp through classics like Wheels on the Bus, Old MacDonald and London Bridge is Falling Down, is a solid hour of content. That's a lot of time off to stare into space or text the parent group chat and one of the reasons she has been called 'the world's babysitter'. But they also love her for letting them do so without feeling guilty. Or at least, not as guilty as if the kids are watching the deranged animation CoComelon or any AI generated kids' animation on YouTube channels such as Yes! Neo or Super Crazy Kids. Miss Rachel is the closest thing to a Playschool presenter the Internet has produced. Before she found fame, the 42-year-old earned master's degrees in early childhood education and music education and worked as a music teacher in the Bronx. She left her job to spend time with her son, Thomas. Around his first birthday, she noticed that he was behind on speech development so started making videos for him. She and her musical theatre husband uploaded the videos to YouTube in 2019, and they immediately struck a chord with young children and their parents. She now has over 15 million subscribers, a small production team and earns between $10 million and $17 million a year through ads and merchandise. This is because YouTube is by some considerable margin the most popular place for kids' viewing. According to a May survey from Precise TV and Giraffe Insights, 72 per cent of two- to 12-year-olds in the UK watch YouTube, against subscription-based streamers (64 per cent), phone/tablet games (54 per cent) and console games (43 per cent). Kids spend an average of 83 minutes a day on YouTube, with only 26 per cent preferring British content over American. In part, this is due to the broadcasters retreating. 'All kids viewing used to be with broadcasters, but they've taken their foot off the pedal over the last decade, more so than any other genre, because you can't really monetise kids' content,' says Tom Harrington of Enders Analysis. 'There's not much you can advertise against it, kids 0-4 viewing isn't measured, and kids don't really need new content because they love watching the same thing again and again so there's no point commissioning 50 new episodes of Fireman Sam.' But kids' content is huge for streamers, he adds, because adults are fickle – they can take out a subscription for the latest cool drama then let it drop – but children are hyper loyal. They want their favourite shows available all the time again and again and again. 'In the data, what we can see is that preschool content is at the top for Netflix,' according to kids' content media analyst Emily Horgan. 'Preschoolers have a limited media footprint. Parents put them in front of Netflix because it's a safe space.' That's why Netflix just bought Sesame Street and originally did a deal with YouTube animation CoComelon in 2020. All eight seasons of that show appeared in the Netflix top 100 until 2024, when viewing started to trail off. In May, Disney + swooped in an bought the full eight eps of the strange cartoon, which it plans to show from 2027 alongside Bluey – which amassed 55.62 billion viewing hours on the streamer last year. In other words, Ms Rachel's theatre-kid-on-Adderall vibe woman is a serious part of Netflix's business. To be fair, she does actually know what she's doing. 'There's techniques Ms Rachel uses that are interesting – everything's incredibly slow, she's incredibly expressive, she talks to the camera and when she says something, she'll give a visual cue,' explains Rachel Diment, a UK speech and language therapist. 'I work with lots of kids that may have cerebral palsy or autism, and they're fascinated. In terms of supporting early language milestones, I would say Ms Rachel versus, say, Teletubbies then Ms Rachel's amazing.' The Teletubbies are unlikely to pose much of a threat to her empire, but Gaza might. Christian conservative parents have previously objected to her Instagram and TikTok content, which is not kid focussed. In 2024, she wished everyone a happy Pride Day, which lead to complaints. But but the Israel-Hamas war is proving a rolling maul of controversy and follows her advocating for Palestinian kids injured or made homeless in Gaza. She first posted about the conflict in May 2024 on Instagram, announcing that she would be raising money for Save the Children's emergency fund for children in Gaza, Ukraine and Sudan. Within hours she had raised $50,000 with orders for 500 personally recorded videos. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Ms Rachel (@msrachelforlittles) A few days later she followed up with a message saying 'children should never experience the horrors of war – nor be killed, injured or taken hostage.' The messages seemed designed to be non-political and she has specifically posted in support of hostage children Ariel and Kfir Bibas. Her posts brought a backlash, and Accurso has posted tearful videos rejecting claims she is antisemitic and talking about her Christianity, saying she loves every child. Remarkably, she managed to ride out the row for almost a year. But in May, StopAntisemitism asked US attorney general Pam Bondi to find out whether Accurso was 'being remunerated to disseminate Hamas-aligned propaganda to her millions of followers.' Accurso has called accusations she received money from Hamas 'absurd' and carries on posting messages on Tik Tok, including a recent video where she told political leaders to 'be ashamed' for not doing enough to stop the killing. The conservative calls for boycotts and imitation 'Christian Ms Rachel' don't appear to have hurt her popularity. She's added two million subscribers this year. 'The kids don't know what her politics are and if the kids watch and they're quiet then I think that's more powerful than probably any political belief,' says Harrington. 'I would argue that you'd have to be quite a resilient person to say, well, I'm not going let the little ones watch that. I'd just prefer if they screamed for the next four hours.'
Yahoo
a day ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Maine's Ms. Rachel speaks out for Gaza's children
Jun. 3—Rachel Griffin Accurso's popular "Ms. Rachel" YouTube series is all about entertaining and educating tiny children. So it's no surprise Accurso, who grew up in Springvale and started her singing career around Portland, would want to protect children, too. Her show has 15 million subscribers and some episodes stream on Netflix. For months Accurso has been using her platform to speak out forcefully about the horrors of war visited upon Palestinian children in Gaza. Her videos and social media posts have garnered international media attention and prompted the group StopAntisemitism to ask the Department of Justice to investigate whether she's being paid to promote pro-Hamas propaganda, several news outlets have reported. She's also gotten considerable criticism on social media, along with many posts supportive of what she's doing. @msrachelforlittles Dear Leaders — be so ashamed #gaza ♬ original sound — Ms Rachel The attention and attacks have not stopped or slowed Accurso, who announced the birth of her second child in April, via a surrogate. Just a few days ago she posted a tearful message on Tik Tok, telling political leaders to "be ashamed" for not doing enough to stop the killing and maiming of children, a result of the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza. "Be so ashamed that you don't see Palestinian people or their children as the same as us, and our children. You think their babies don't like peekaboo and don't smile when they see someone they love and don't cry the same?" Accurso says in the post. Mainers who knew Accurso or performed with her say her talent, drive and courage were apparent when she was playing places like One Longfellow Square and Blue in Portland 20 years ago. Singer songwriter Anni Clark says she was surprised to see Accurso's transition to music for infants and toddlers, since her repertoire in Portland included piano-based songs influenced by R&B and jazz. But even then Clark said people could see that Accurso, who studied music at the University of Southern Maine before moving to New York, was likely capable of big things. "The talent and the energy was always apparent. She was fearless, in going out and getting what she wanted. She was relentless in her work," said Clark, who lives in Old Orchard Beach. "She had the drive to be in front of people and express herself. Those of us who perform have that, but her light shone even brighter." Accurso, 42, grew up in the Springvale section of Sanford and graduated from Sanford High School. She studied music at the University of Southern Maine in the early 2000s, and recorded and performed around the area. In an interview at that time with the USM newspaper, the Free Press, she cited Norah Jones and Ben Folds among her influences. She told the Biddeford Journal Tribune, during an interview about her pre-Ms. Rachel music career in 2015, that she had been writing music in her head since she was 5 years old and "thought everybody did." Around the release of her album, Accurso opened for Clark at one of her shows, and Clark remembers Accurso's songs and piano playing as upbeat and high-energy. She also remembers that Accurso was developing a following around Portland. It was a very different following than she has now. "She wrote some provocative, sensual lyrics back then, and I do know she had a huge male fan base," said Clark. Accurso moved to New York to study music at New York University. It was while in New York that she met her husband, Aron Accurso, a musician who was working on Broadway. According to the New York Times they met at a Unitarian Church on the Upper East Side, sometime around 2010. She later spent nine months as a Dramatists Guild Fellow, being mentored by Broadway professionals. In 2016, she emailed the Press Herald — for a story on Maine musicians living in New York City — to say she was living in Manhattan and working on a musical called "We Have Apples," which highlighted the stigma of mental health conditions, and the lack of accessible care. The musical got national attention, including stories in the Washington Post and on CBS News. Accurso, who has masters degrees in early childhood development and music education, began putting her "Songs for Littles" videos online in 2019 with her husband. They created their YouTube series after having a hard time finding online speech development resources for their infant son, who didn't speak until he was two. With bright-colored sets and puppets surrounding her, Accurso dresses in overalls and talks sweetly and enthusiastically to her audience between songs. @msrachelforlittlesMeeting Rahaf from Gaza ?♬ original sound — Ms Rachel Today the YouTube channel has more than 15 million subscribers. Accurso also has more than 3 million followers on Instagram and 6.5 million on Tik Tok. In January, Netflix announced it would begin streaming some of her YouTube episodes. Accurso and her show have been talked about on NBC's "Today," National Public Radio and ABC's "Good Morning America," and she's been written about in the New York Times and Parents magazine, among others. Newspapers and news outlets like NPR, The Guardian and others have written about her lately because of her Gaza videos and statements, and the criticism she's garnered for it. In March, Accurso posted a video of two children watching a "Ms. Rachel" video surrounded by debris. The caption read: "My friends Celine and Silia in what used to be their home in Gaza. They deserve to live in a warm, safe home again." In May, Accurso posted on Instagram about meeting with a 3-year-old girl from Gaza who lost her legs in an airstrike. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Ms Rachel (@msrachelforlittles) A representative for Accurso said she was not available for a phone interview, and she did not respond to emailed questions. In a New York Times story in mid-May on her statements about Gaza, Accurso was quoted as denying that she had received any money from Hamas, calling the accusation "absurd." She also explained, in an emailed response, her reasons for continuing to call attention to the children of war-torn Gaza. "I've spent my life committed to the learning and well-being of children," Accurso said. "I have always believed that safety and security are a basic human right for every child — so you see, caring about children in Gaza is a direct continuation of the work I've been doing most of my life. We don't care about only some of our students because of where those students were born, we care about every one of them." Copy the Story Link We believe it's important to offer commenting on certain stories as a benefit to our readers. At its best, our comments sections can be a productive platform for readers to engage with our journalism, offer thoughts on coverage and issues, and drive conversation in a respectful, solutions-based way. It's a form of open discourse that can be useful to our community, public officials, journalists and others. We do not enable comments on everything — exceptions include most crime stories, and coverage involving personal tragedy or sensitive issues that invite personal attacks instead of thoughtful discussion. You can read more here about our commenting policy and terms of use. More information is also found on our FAQs. Show less
Fox News
2 days ago
- General
- Fox News
Evening Edition: Suspect In Targeted Terror Attack In The Country Illegally
It has been determined that the 45-year-old Egyptian man accused of allegedly throwing explosives into a crowd Sunday in Boulder, Colorado as a pro-Israel group gathered to advocate for the release of Hamas hostages has been in the United States illegally for years. Mohamed Sabry Soliman overstayed his visa and has been charged with a hate crime in what the FBI described as a 'targeted terror attack' that left eight people, ages 52 to 88, with burn injuries, including one in critical condition. None of the victims have died. FOX's Eben Brown speaks with Liora Rez, the Founder and Executive Director of StopAntisemitism, who says the terror attack targeted Jews but the same extremist ideology wants the United state destroyed. Click Here To Follow 'The FOX News Rundown: Evening Edition' Learn more about your ad choices. Visit
The Guardian
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Why is a pro-Israel group asking the US to investigate Ms Rachel?
If you believe that babies can tell when a person is truly good, then it should be no surprise that Ms Rachel – the beloved kids YouTube sensation – has remained on the right side of 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, began speaking out about the genocide in Gaza, pro-Israel rightwingers 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 by sharing statistics 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 an article about 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 Justice to investigate whether 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 children have 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 as children face starvation. Last Saturday, Israeli airstrikes killed nine 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,' Accurso said through 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 cast babies as 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 her Instagram and TikTok accounts (which are geared toward her adult supporters, of course), rightwing influencers called her 'sick' and complained that 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 figures signed an 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 about Gaza. 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
