Who among us hasn’t accidentally liked an Instagram comment calling for America to be “free from the Jews”? YouTube children’s entertainer Ms. Rachel fell into that trap this week, issuing a pathetic and quite possibly insincere apology online after one of her subscribers caught her in the act of upvoting Jew-hate. “I’m sure that’s an accident so wanted to let you know,” the fan said. Was it really, though?
“Deleted,” Ms. Rachel, whose real name is Rachel Accurso, responded. “How horrible. Oh wait. Let me check. Yah, I did delete one like that.” She added, “I hate antisemitism.”
That didn’t defuse the situation. Ms. Rachel, clearly the victim here, posted a video to Instagram hours later. She wasn’t wearing makeup or her trademark overalls. “I thought I deleted a comment,” she said through tears. “I’m so broken over this… I feel like we can’t be human anymore online. And I’m so sorry for the confusion it caused. I’m so sorry if anyone thought that I would ever agree with something so horrible and antisemitic like that. I don’t.”
But she didn’t delete the comment. She liked it. As one person noted on Instagram, “this gaslighting is WILD.” Wild indeed, and it begs the question as to why a generationally popular children’s entertainer is getting antisemitic comments in her feed in the first place.
The organization StopAntisemitism named Ms. Rachel a finalist for its 2025 “Antisemite of the Year Award,” alleging she pushed “Hamas propaganda,” shared “inflated casualty claims,” and ignored Israeli child victims. Ms. Rachel said in response that she supports all children. She also posted a short video where she introduced “my friend Motaz,” Palestinian photojournalist Motaz Azaiza, clapping her hands and saying “YAAAAAY!” When she gave a speech at the Glamour magazine “Woman of the Year” ceremony in 2025, she wore a dress featuring artwork by Palestinian children and referred to the “genocide” in Gaza.
None of this makes Ms. Rachel a Nazi propagandist, peppy Hitler in a pink headband. Many sane people have expressed concerns about the well-being of people in Palestine. She’s not a propagandist for pure antisemitism. But she is a creature of the global left, and anyone who’s been following the news knows that there’s a strong, sinister undercurrent of anti-Jewish sentiment in left-wing discourse. Someone is whispering these ideas into her ear.
If an entertainer for adults had more than five million TikTok subscribers, was talking about “genocide,” and was liking comments calling to “free America for the Jews,” it would be concerning. The fact that she’s backdooring these sentiments for kids is creepy and alarming.
Ms. Rachel may not have hard political power, but she does wield soft cultural power.
She’s friends with New York mayor Zohran Mamdani, and served on his inauguration committee. On Sunday, she posted a video with Mamdani, where they sang, “The Mayor on the bus says hello friends,” and “the money on the bus goes clink clink clink,” and then Mamdani interrupts her and says “the buses are going to be free though.” She says, “this is my song,” and then sings, “the babies on the bus go wah wah wah.”
“Aren’t they happy about the free childcare?” asks Mayor Mamdani.
It’s kind of cute, mostly cringe and lame. But they definitely don’t sing a verse about “the Jews on the bus.” In Mamdani’s and Ms. Rachel’s ideal New York, there won’t be any.
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