- What Happens When a Children’s Entertainer Won’t Stay Apolitical
Ms. Rachel is the current example. She will not be the last. There is an unwritten contract between children’s entertainers and the public, and it is stricter than the one we impose on almost any other kind of celebrity. Musicians are allowed opinions. Politics is practically part of the job description. Actors get more room too, because their politics usually exist outside the work itself, …
- Jesus, Empire and the Problem With Reclaiming What Was Never Ours Alone
There are essays you read and immediately know you disagree with. Then there are essays that make you uncomfortable precisely because you agree with enough of them to have to think harder about the parts you don’t. “The Paradox of Deification of Jesus Christ,” written by Lovemore Chishamba is the second kind. I have to say that I love the essay’s anger. That may sound …
- Why Ms. Rachel Can’t Just Stop Talking About Gaza
Rachel Accurso built a $1 million donation career out of teaching toddlers how to say “mama,” identify farm animals and jump like bunnies. Her YouTube channel now has more than 21 million subscribers. There is a Netflix deal, a Sesame Street collaboration, merchandise, books and, this month, her first album, I’m So Happy. She has become one of the most recognisable faces in children’s entertainment.
And yet, for the past two years, she has repeatedly found herself in the middle of one of the most vicious political arguments on the internet….