Why Do People Hate Michael Rapaport? The Provocative Actor Has Ruffled Some Feathers

Fans are asking why people hate actor and comedian Michael Rapaport following some backlash after it was announced he'd been cast on season 4 of The Traitors.

According to Variety, the Cop Land actor will appear on the reality show hosted by Alan Cummings on Peacock.

Also joining the cast are comedian Ron Funches, Laguna Beach star Stephen Colletti, former The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star Lisa Rinna, Donna Kelce, figure skaters Johnny Weir and Tara Lipinski, and former The Real Housewives of New York star Dorinda Medley, to name a few.

After the cast was announced, the show received backlash for casting the outspoken actor. So, why do people hate Michael Rapaport?

After the new cast of The Traitors was announced, people took to social media to denounce Michael's casting. People are upset due to the Life & Beth actor's incendiary and racist remarks on X.

His passion for defending Israel following the attack by Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023, often comes with racist comments about Palestinians and Black people. After Hamas attacked Israel and took hundreds of hostages, Israel responded by bombing Palestine, and human rights groups called for a ceasefire.

One of his posts incorrectly claimed that if the hostages were Black, there'd be no ceasefire calls.

“Yo, if 20 American tourists, forget the 1,200 people that were murdered, slaughtered, civilians, if 20 American civilians, all African American, all Black, all ages were taken hostage, and 10 of them were murdered and raped, and there was 10 surviving American tourist hostages that were all Black, there’s not one motherf--ker in this country that would be talking about cease fire,” he said.

“There’s not one person," he continued. "It would be ‘Bring the f--king hostages back, and they better be, they better be alive! They better be pristine.’ There wouldn’t be no cease-fire, there wouldn’t be no — can you imagine college students ripping down posters of 10 Black people from America if they were taken hostage and 10 of them were raped and murdered?”

He went on to claim that the Black, Jewish, and Caucasian people would be demanding their return with no discussion of a ceasefire.

"It’d be like, ‘Ravage the f--kin’ place until they come back, and they better come back safe and sound,'" he added.

On Feb. 29, 2024, Israeli troops opened fire on people trying to get humanitarian for aid in Gaza City. per The Associated Press. At least 100 Palestinians were killed and 700 were wounded by the Israeli military.

However, Michael wrote on Instagram that "there was no massacre of Palestinians in Gaza today" and instead claimed that Palestinians "trampled each other." At the time, at least 30,000 Palestinians had been killed in the Israel-Hamas War.

The death toll is now over 55,000 and counting.

He has also called for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees to be shut down, while millions are at risk of starvation. Michael has questioned whether anything good ever came out of Rafah or Gaza and consistently mocks Palestinians.