Here at Kveller, we’ve often written about circumcision — we do cover Jewish parenting, after all, and the bris is still, for many Jewish parents, an important rite of passage.
We know it’s a sensitive subject, and that people have wildly varied, and often very strong feelings about it — but one thing we also know is that there is a time and place to have a debate over circumcision. And that time and place, it should be obvious, does not include at a concert of one of the greatest pop performers alive.
Turns out, that’s not as obvious as we thought it was, because at a Pink concert on September 25, the singer and Jewish mom was harassed by an “intactivist” who held up an anti-circumcision sign calling it “cruel” and “harmful.”
While on stage in San Antonio, Texas, performing a monologue ahead of a song, the singer noticed the man’s phone held up with a message; at first she was confused, and then, enraged.
“You’re making a whole point right now, aren’t you?” she asked him incredulously. “Do you feel good about yourself?”
“You spent a whole lot of money to do that,” she added, saying he could’ve gotten a Birkin bag for what it cost to be that close to the stage at her concert. “He wants all of you to read it, he came here to talk about circumcision.”
Pink then asked security to escort the concert goer out of the stadium, as the the crowd was waving him away and booing. “I feel bad that he wasted his time tonight,” she said after he left, shaking her head, then continued the show, which, according to one audience member who filmed the incident, was incredible.
In case you’re wondering why in the world someone would choose a Pink concert to make a point about circumcision, it is related to an Instagram post from over four years ago. Back in 2019, Pink got hate when she accidentally posted a shot of her son Jameson, who was then 2, diaper-less. She wanted to share a sweet picture of her, Jameson and daughter Willow getting a surprise visit from a pelican by the pool, and didn’t realize the state of undress he was in.
Apparently, quite a few utterly wrongheaded commenters decided to focus on a toddler’s genitalia and make anti-circumcision comments on what was essentially a delightful family snapshot. Pink deleted the post and then reposted it with Jameson’s privates blurred out, along with some pretty sharp words for said commenters (the singer is known for not mincing her words when it comes to things she cares about — from abortion rights to politics to antisemitism).
“There’s something seriously wrong with a lot of you out there. Going off about my baby’s penis? About circumcision??? Are you for real? As any normal mother at the beach, I didn’t even notice he took off his swim diaper,” she wrote. “I deleted it because you’re all fucking disgusting.”
While Pink is Jewish, she didn’t come out for or against circumcision, and we don’t know if Jameson had a bris or not. The majority of babies in the U.S. are still circumcised — and it is always a personal choice for parents.
Being harassed by an intactivist is not the only strange thing that has happened at a Pink concert during her latest Summer Carnival tour. Back in July, a fan threw a bag with his mother’s ashes at the singer at her BST Hyde Park concert in London. Pink aptly responded with, “I don’t know how I feel about this.”
Pink fans! Get it together! This isn’t how you treat the musical legend who gave us “M!ssundaztood” and “Beautiful Trauma,” and maybe the best music video with Judith Light ever made.
If we were there, we’d hand her some homemade challah, or maybe make her mother Judy’s kugel recipe for her.
