NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles! Popular children’s YouTuber Rachel Accurso has spent more than $22,000 supporting Democratic and progressive candidates since 2024, while her brand aimed at young children has expanded to Netflix, Penguin Random House and the toy aisles of Target. Better known as “Ms. Rachel,” the online star has established herself as the face of a multimillion-dollar children’s entertainment empire. The former New York City preschool educator, who sings children’s songs and teaches languages to more than 21 million YouTube subscribers, has also become one of the most politically outspoken figures in her field, drawing scrutiny for her positions on the war between Israel and Hamas, racial issues and various immigration policies of the Trump administration. or Cocomelon,” James Zahn, editor-in-chief of “The Toy Book,” told Fox News Digital. “For families who have ‘little ones,’ as she would say, she’s part of everyday life right now,” he added. MRS. RACHEL URGES ‘ALL RICH WHITE CELEBRITIES’ TO MATCH MACKLEMORE’S DONATION TO PALESTINIAN CAUSES. Ms. Rachel has more than 21 million subscribers on YouTube. (Nathan Congleton/NBC via Getty Images)Accurso, 43, launched her YouTube channel in 2019 after finding few media resources for her son, who had a speech delay as a toddler. Her channel quickly gained popularity, leading her to create “Songs for Littles,” a recurring series in which Accurso, dressed in her distinctive pink shirt, onesie and headband, performs a mix of classic and original children’s songs for babies, toddlers and children. preschoolers. Her rise to fame has made her one of the most commercially significant figures in American children’s media and, at the same time, one of the most politically outspoken. According to federal records, Accurso has donated approximately $22,500 to various Democratic and progressive candidates since 2024, and has made headlines for her outspoken stances on the war between Israel and Hamas and other politically charged topics. PARENTS ON MS RACHEL’S POLITICAL ACTIVISM, ‘NOT MR. ROGERS’Accurso has managed to secure deals with Netflix, Penguin Random House Books and Spin Master Toys. “These companies look at it as: If an artist doesn’t mix real life with the content, that tends to make things a little safer,” said Zahn. “In the years leading up to Ms. Rachel’s toy deal with Spin Master being announced, there was a war of. offers,” Zahn said. “So toy and game makers knew she was a powerful personality worth talking to.” MRS. RACHEL FACE FOR ACCUSING ISRAEL OF ‘GENOCIDE’ IN PARK INTERACTION WITH PODCASTER Ms. Rachel attends the 2024 Sesame Workshop Benefit Gala at Cipriani 42nd Street in New York City on May 29, 2024. (Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images) “I clearly remember at Toy Fair in New York knowing that Ms. Rachel was in the building; not in person, but she was attending meetings,” he continued. “And finally, within the industry the question arose: who will keep Ms. Rachel’s toys?” The line features a variety of toys geared toward both learning and entertainment, with Ms. Rachel personified as a toy version of herself in various outfits. Its reach has also extended from the online ecosystem to traditional and print media after it landed partnerships with Netflix in 2025 and with publisher Penguin Random House in 2024. access to it,” Zahn said. “Although we live in a world with so many screens, not all families allow their children to operate on YouTube.” WORD The Netflix logo is displayed on the roof of an office building in Los Angeles, California, on May 29, 2026. (Michael Yanow/NurPhoto via Getty Images) “When we think about media, and we think about how digital it is, the analog foundation, especially for younger kids, is very, very key,” he added, referring to Accurso’s line of children’s books. The licensing approach for the Accurso brand marks a significant shift, and in some ways. unprecedented, in children’s entertainment, in which influencers reign in spaces traditionally reserved for mainstream media. “Kids today, even from the earliest ages, don’t just want to watch a television show,” David Kleeman, senior vice president of global trends at Dubit, told Fox News Digital. “They want to be part of the media they consume. They want to play with them. They want to act. They want to wear the clothes.” As Accurso’s personality continues to reach into every aspect of a child’s life, from the shows they watch to the toys they play with, Kleeman emphasizes the need for the person behind the brand to maintain a level of trust with parents who choose to keep its content in the hands of their children. GAZA WOULD ‘PROBABLY’ WOULD TALK IF CHILDREN ‘WERE WHITE’ Ms. Rachel has stated that celebrities and leaders who have remained silent about children in Gaza would probably speak up if the children were white. (Variety via Getty Images) “Parents have always looked to the media for support for what they do with their children,” Kleeman said. “We tell parents, ‘You are your children’s first teachers.’ That petrifies many parents, so [they] look for ways to complement what [they’re] “However, Accurso’s public policy has made its children’s education brand synonymous with hot-button political issues, such as the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas and tensions around Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). It has also invested some money behind prominent Democrats. In 2024, the day after then-President Joe Biden dropped out of the ongoing election and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris as his Democratic successor, Accurso donated HOW THE MRS. RACHEL’S POLITICAL ACTIVISM IS CAUSING PARENT REJECTION In the days that followed, she contributed an additional $750 in funds to Harris for President and the Harris Victory Fund, according to Federal Election Commission records By September 2024, Accurso had disbursed an additional $2,000 in donations to Harris’ campaign, bringing the total to $3,000 in campaign contributions, according to records. show.A year later, Accurso made a $5,000 donation to Cameron Kasky’s New York congressional campaign, according to New York City Campaign Finance Board records obtained by Fox News Digital. Kasky’s campaign repaid him $1,500 the same day Kasky, a survivor of the 2018 mass school shooting in Parkland, Florida, ran on a platform focused on the abolition of. ICE, an end to military funding to Israel, and stricter laws against gun violence. He ultimately dropped out of the race in January 2026 following a trip to the West Bank, in which he cited a new focus on stopping “settler violence” in the region, according to a post by X. Throughout 2026, campaign finance records show Accurso has spent $12,000 in several New York races with candidates of similar views. VICTIM OF ISLAMOPHOBIC ATTACKS The early childhood educator donated $5,000 to former New York State Assemblyman Yuh-Line Niou’s state Senate campaign, plus an additional $3,500 to Democratic Socialist Darializa Avila Chevalier and $4,500 to former New York City Comptroller Brad Lander. While Niou failed to win in the primary earlier this year, Both Chevalier and Lander won the Democratic nominations for their respective congressional campaigns. All three candidates have campaigned heavily on platforms that are critical of both Israel and ICE. Federal Election Commission records also show that Accurso gave $3,000 to Abdul El-Sayed’s Michigan Senate campaign in July, marking another contribution to a controversial candidate who has repeatedly alleged that Israel is committing “genocide” in Gaza. 2024. (Nathan Congleton/NBC via Getty Images) “I’m political,” she said in March, describing her opposition to Immigration and Customs Enforcement. She has been equally forthright about the war between Israel and Hamas, drawing scrutiny in 2025 after appearing in a video referring to Palestinian photojournalist Motaz Azaiza as her “friend,” days before Azaiza admitted to holding images of Israeli hostages. beaten by a crowd in Gaza on October 7, 2023. “There’s not much precedent when it comes to a child artist making comments outside of their content that upset people, or in some cases in the right way,” Zahn said. The YouTuber’s checkbook tells a similar story, with her net worth estimated at around $20 million with a whopping $23 million in annual earnings. of fans between Ms. Rachel as a brand and Accurso as a public figure. “It’s always a problem when you have a host who basically presents himself as himself,” Kleeman told Fox News Digital. There was no character or artifice there. Ms. Rachel has created ‘Ms. Rachel’, unlike Rachel Accurso.” “Viewers often have trouble separating that real-life person from the character,” he added. MS RACHEL Claims ‘NO ONE NEEDS A BILLION DOLLARS’, BACKS DEMOCRATIC PROGRESSISTS ABDUL EL-SAYED, CORI BUSH The sentiment was echoed by Zahn, who suggests that Accurso’s high-profile political stances are doing little to deter brands from signing up for his YouTube. “Companies can take multiple approaches, as we’ve seen with other celebrity controversies,” Zahn said. “They can choose to endorse the celebrity, they can reject the celebrity, they can distance themselves from the celebrity, or they can say nothing at all. And sometimes what is really needed is to say nothing at all.” While parents may be interested in Accurso’s views on topics like Gaza and gender representation, Kleeman maintains that as long as the content creator keeps politics out of her educational materials, she will likely feel little opposition from brands and fans alike. play,” Kleeman told Fox News Digital. “I think Netflix or any channel that airs content hosted by a real person is going to have to balance how well that person conveys what they’re broadcasting to kids: the kid-specific content, not the stuff around it.” Fox News Digital writer and Fox Flight Team drone pilot. You can follow her at @juliabonavita13 on all platforms and send story tips to julia.bonavita@fox.com.
