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Children’s content creator Rachel Accurso — known online as the beloved Ms Rachel — announced on Thursday she will be donating $1 million to an organisation working for children in Palestine.

In an Instagram post, the YouTube star said she was matching a $1m donation announced by rapper Macklemore a few hours before her pledge. The money is set to go to the Palestine Children’s Relief Fund, for which Accurso is an ambassador.

She said over 20,000 had been killed during the genocide in Gaza and more continue to be killed every day. Inviting “every wealthy white celebrity” to match her donation, Accurso said, “We have an obligation to use our privilege and platforms to protect children and human rights.”

This follows a week of controversy surrounding Macklemore’s removal from singer Ed Sheeran’s Loop tour over the rapper’s outspoken stance on Palestine — including speeches delivered to the crowd during the tour calling for a “free Palestine”.

The speeches resulted in venue owners — with pro-Israel businessman Robert Kraft, who owns the Gillette Stadium in Massachusetts, at the forefront — telling Sheeran his shows would not go ahead unless Macklemore was dropped.

On Monday, the tour’s promoters announced the rapper would not be performing at upcoming stops. Macklemore responded to the announcement saying he was disappointed, but would consider himself successful if he shifted the conversation towards the suffering of the people of Palestine. He later announced he would donate all of his tour earnings to organisations working in Palestine.

Sheeran defended the decision on Tuesday, saying it wasn’t his to make, but he kept his political views away from his professional platform because the people “who come to my shows do not expect a political forum”.

The response was not received well by the other musicians appearing on the tour as supporting acts and all four of them — including the tour’s live band — withdrew in solidarity with Macklemore.

While the rapper did not ask Accurso to match his pledge, he did call on Kraft to donate to Palestine. The businessman announced he would be donating $2m “to the region” and Sheeran would be doing the same — something he said the two had decided to do before Macklemore had announced his donation.