Michael Rapaport: Jewish advocacy has cost me jobs in Hollywood

Actor, comedian and podcast host Michael Rapaport has claimed that his outspoken support of Israel, especially after the October 7 attacks, has led to him losing out on acting roles.

Speaking to i24NEWS on "Jewish World Weekly," Rapaport said that "There's been some issues in terms of getting jobs as an actor…however I don’t have the slightest bit of regret."

"There was no choice," he continued "Well if you do this, this is gonna happen. Or if you do this, this won’t happen. Being supportive of Jews, being supportive of Israel, being supportive of our people was not a choice. It was, and is, very organic to me."

 Rapaport has had a distinguished career as an actor, featuring in such classic TV shows such as "Friends," "Prison Break," and "The Simpsons" – and starring alongside Sandra Bullock and Melissa McCarthy in "The Heat." 

Over the last 18 months, Rapaport has become known for his expletive-laden social media rants to his millions of followers, something he replicated when talking about what he believed is the fair-weathered stance of his Hollywood acquaintances.

"There’s so many people I have lost respect for and there’s so many people that present themselves as empathetic, sympathetic, as worldly, as compassionate, and they like to read about the world. They’re completely full of **," according to the New York native. "And some of them are Jewish.

"It’s frustrating because of the presentation that they show of themselves. They cry about animals, they cry about pigs and cows. Cool. They cry about this cause and that cause. But you haven’t, in 540-something days, educated yourselves?"

Talking about the backlash among his peers following the arrest of Oscar winning director Hamdan Ballal, he remarked: "You take the time to sign this letter for this documentary filmmaker, who was allegedly throwing rocks at the IDF. If it had been another Academy award winner from this past year throwing rocks at a New York City policeman, there wouldn’t be any uproar. You’d just be like, ‘what the ** is this guy doing?’"

Rapaport was in Israel for the International Conference on Combating Antisemitism, where he spoke alongside other pro-Israel activists and academics on ways to counter the trend of rising hatred against Jews in the diaspora.

Rapaport has made several visits to Israel since October 7, with his newfound popularity in the country even leading to a few appearances on "Eretz Nehederet" ("A Wonderful Land"), the top-rated Israeli sketch comedy show, mocking the actions of Ivy League professors in their response to accusations of antisemitism.

But he has also spent time with the families of some of the hostages in captivity, including the families of recently released captive Or Levy and of the late Shlomo Mansour. The comedian has also featured as a keynote speaker in the weekly rally at Tel Aviv’s Hostages Square, and has taken the plight of the captives personally.

"Whether it’s the family of Shlomo Mansour, or hearing Rachel and Jon (Goldberg-Polin) talking about their son, or Michael Levy talking about his brother Or, I think as a Jewish man, as a Jewish person, it doesn’t matter who or what you support or think or post, if you had been here on October 7th, you could’ve been murdered, killed, raped or kidnapped", he told i24NEWS. "So when you see the family of Omer Neutra, when you see the family of Idan Alexander - these are New York men, these are New Jersey men, they sound just like I do. All these experiences, they just resonate with me."

But despite facing barrages of abuse on social media, which he claims means he "is doing something right," and a loss of revenue from a lack of work, he remains defiant in his support for Israel. "I'm not going anywhere!"

"Jewish World Weekly," hosted by Emily Frances, airs Monday at 21:00 Israel Time/2PM ET. Previous episodes are available to watch in full on the i24NEWS YouTube channel.