I Thoroughly Enjoyed Watching Michael Rapaport Eat Shit On ‘The Traitors’

As the parent of a toddler, my TV watching habits have lately tended more toward Peppa Pig and Ms. Rachel than Heated Rivalry or The Pitt. I would like to keep abreast of whatever the internet is buzzing about, but when my child finally gets to sleep at the end of the day, I am a shell of a middle-aged human who is only able to muster the attention span necessary to fall into an old familiar comfort watch. (Lately that’s Law & Order, though it does more watching me than I do it.)

Still, I always make room for The Traitors. I agree with Kelsey McKinney, who once declared it the best show on television, and I would further argue that this current season, Season 4, is the best yet. Not because the cast is better—though I was absolutely thrilled to see the inclusion of two of my all-time favorite Real Housewives, Candiace Dillard Bassett of Potomac, and Lisa fucking Rinna of Beverly Hills—or because they’ve improved the gameplay, or because Alan Cumming continues to dig deeper into the bit as a combination of campy philosopher and dominatrix. It’s because this season has delivered one of the greatest moments in TV history: the public humiliation of Michael Rapaport.

When last year's initial casting announcement included Rapaport, I wasn’t sure I would want to tune in. The one-time actor, now full-time piece of shit, has spent the past several years being a loud and proud racist in defense of Zionism, justifying the Israeli government's genocidal campaign that has forced millions of Palestinians into starvation, violated so-called “ceasefire” agreements, and killed more than 70,000 Palestinians. Wherever there has been defense of Palestinian life, whether on the Columbia University campus or the site formerly known as Twitter, you could be certain that Rapaport would show up to ensure there was someone present to give a full-throated defense of the slaughter. He’s posted numerous videos of himself online, becoming a Zionist influencer of sorts, espousing his views, sometimes with colorful titles such as “The Erotic Sick Dream of a Free Palestine whatever the fook that means ain’t happening ever.” He appeared in a video shared by the militant pro-Israel group Betar US, which last month agreed to halt operations in New York after the state Attorney General’s office determined that their ongoing harassment constituted a civil rights violation. In that video, Rapaport praised convicted terrorist Meir Kahane, saying, “Kahane was always right.” In recent months, you could find Rapaport disparaging vocal critics of Israel, like when he called New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani a “shit stain,” or made light of Rep. Ilhan Omar after she was attacked at a town hall meeting.