Ten years ago, getting kicked off a stadium tour in support of a star like Ed Sheeran would have been a career killer. Voluntarily quitting such a tour would have been unthinkable. Now it's not a career killer, it's a career maker. The second act of Macklemore's career begins now. With a precisely timed bit of political posturing, almost any washed up actor or musician can earn millions of dollars by cynically exploiting the suffering of the people they claim to be protecting, that's just the way things work these days. Continued suffering equals more virtue signaling equals more money and fame for the podcasters, influencers, and wannabe activists. It's a wonderful grift, it's easy to pull off, and it beats working for a living.
That's all I have to say about that zero talent POS Macklemore, he's a nobody and it's pathetic to see music critics who couldn't stand his music suddenly rally around him and excusing his obvious racism.
What I really want to address is the widespread reaction to Pink's criticism of him. The reaction to Pink's social media posts on this issue is part of a widespread problem within the music industry that never gets talked about -- the music industry is deeply, profoundly uncomfortable with the very idea of female Jewish artists.
Pink's comments boil down to just one simple thing: "I am a Jew, and this is my truth". It shouldn't have been controversial. People are entitled to their own truth and their own perceptions. This has gone unquestioned by everyone on the left for years, particularly when the individual is a racial or cultural minority. But when Pink "outed" herself as Jewish (I'm guessing that even many of her hardcore fans didn't know), the backlash was fierce. Her stated experience, stated as part of a shared Jewish experience, was completely nullified. This in part because the music industry (producers, A&R people, publicists, label owners, journalists...) have marginalized, downplayed, and actively covered up the Jewishness of female artists. When Pink wrote what she did, her Jewishness was pushed into people's faces, they couldn't ignore it, and they had no idea how to handle it (in the sense that it was a "problem" that needed to be "handled" or "dealt with"). So they did the only thing they could do. They criticized her. Called her disgusting names. Dismissed her feelings and experiences completely. Pink broke the rules. Simply existing as a proud female Jewish musician is outside the boundaries in which the industry normally operates.
This problem goes back decades. The days of Barbra Streisand singing Jewish songs and being celebrated for her Jewishness are long past. Whereas Jewishness for male artists is viewed as an asset -- a badge of coolness, particularly for New York based musicians for example -- such intellectual or cultural weight is never granted to female artists.
At the height of her fame in the 80's, Susannah Hoffs' ethnicity was never discussed.
Paula Abdul's heritage was completely obscured by the media. Her work as a choreographer with the Laker Girls and the Jackson family led many to simply assume that she was African-American. This assumption was never affirmed or denied. Her ethnicity was left unspoken, and it's just as well, because no marketing executive possessed the knowledge or tact to market a Syrian Jewish singer to a largely pop/R&B American audience.
Justine Frischmann was a key figure in 90's British music. She was a fixture in the music press for years, both written about and photographed extensively. I don't recall reading anything about her Jewish background in the press until she had left the music industry altogether.
Amy Winehouse might have been portrayed as a nice Jewish jazz singer at the start of her career, but by the time she became a major mainstream success, her heritage was a footnote. The history of Jews in jazz music, her own family's musical history (her uncles were jazz musicians) and even the Jewish heritage of her long time producer and collaborator (Mick Ronson) could have made for an interesting framing device for her background and upbringing. But instead, the narrative revolved around her substance abuses, public screw-ups, and her failed marriage.
HAIM have never hid their Jewishness, but nearly every profile depicts them as sunny day California girls, the heirs to the FM radio cheer of Fleetwood Mac.
And Pink? Pigeonholed as a cookie cutter pop/R&B diva when she signed to Babyface's label, she later found her true voice on her second album "Missundaztood". She is the most successful Jewish musician of the 21st century, with over 60 million albums sold and over a billion dollars drawn in concert. Her 2023-4 tour is the highest grossing tour ever by a female artist not named Taylor Swift. You'd think that with all that success, her heritage would be something to highlight, to celebrate, to inspire. But Pink has never been portrayed that way. Her Jewishness has been consistently ignored from the start of her career. Until now, when it's become a cudgel to beat her over the head with.
It doesn't matter one bit whether any of these women are religious, or secular, or Zionist, or not, or what have you. At some point in their careers, journalists should have framed their Jewish upbringing in a context that illuminates who they are as artists. But they didn't. A marketing executive could have found a cute marketing angle. They don't bother. Female arists of other ethnicities get shown that respect. Latin artists. African Americans. Dua Lipa. But never Jewish female musicians.
