Michael Rapaport, the Jewish-American actor and comedian known for his direct and unapologetic style, often finds himself in public confrontations and controversies, particularly regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Since the October 7 attack, Rapaport became a prominent figure in Israel's advocacy efforts. He visits the country, speaks with hostage families, shares difficult content from Gaza, and sharply criticizes Hamas, Israel's critics, and even Hollywood stars who choose to remain silent. He also doesn't hesitate to attack anyone who expresses solidarity with Palestinians or criticizes Israel.
The current storm erupted last week when Rapaport (55) published on his official Instagram an AI-generated image showing a prisoner playing violin at Auschwitz alongside a dramatic backstory.
The image, which garnered thousands of likes and shares, was presented as authentic, but the Auschwitz-Birkenau Museum, the central Holocaust memorial site in Poland, immediately identified it as a dangerous fake. "Publishing fake AI-generated images of Auschwitz is not only a dangerous distortion of history - it's an assault on victims' memory and harassment of their remembrance," the official statement read. The museum called for avoiding the spread of such posts and relying only on its official sources based on meticulous historical research.
Historical distortions and the danger of fake content
Rapaport's post wasn't just fake, the museum claimed, it was full of jarring historical inaccuracies. The name "Henk" mentioned in the post isn't the common Polish nickname ("Heniek"), and the story lacked a surname, a basic detail, especially when presenting a figure as a famous musician.
Beyond that, Rapaport's shared post described an orchestra playing "as women and children march to their deaths," but according to museum research, orchestras at Auschwitz played mainly when prisoners left for forced labor or returned to camp, not during death marches.
The description of a girl passing by a men's orchestra also isn't possible in the camp's historical reality, museum officials argued, since the grounds operated under a strict gender separation regime. All these, the museum clarified, aren't marginal errors but distortions that blur reality, create false myths, and endanger historical memory.
Social media reactions
Despite the post's removal, the social media storm was immediate and uncompromising. Users raged that Rapaport, who presents himself as a fighter against antisemitism, spread dangerous Holocaust misinformation without checking sources or verifying authenticity.
"What soulless monster would use made-up Holocaust stories for likes?" one user fumed, while others added, "Complete irresponsibility. Spreading fake images only helps Holocaust deniers and distorts history. Shame on you," "The Holocaust isn't a playground for collecting social media likes," "You're disrespecting victims and survivors," "Such a post is dangerous, you can't play with Holocaust truth, period."
Even those who tried to defend him and noted that he acknowledged the mistake, took responsibility, and apologized emphasized, "This is exactly why artificial intelligence is scary - anyone can rewrite history with the click of a button." In forums and discussions, some saw this as a cynical attempt to harness Holocaust horrors for Israel's advocacy battles. "Spreading a fake Holocaust story to harvest empathy is dangerous emotional manipulation," was written.
Michael Rapaport's apology post stating "What I did came from good intentions," many users weren't satisfied with criticism about the fake content, but used the opportunity to accuse Rapaport and Israel of crimes against humanity, using particularly harsh rhetoric. Elena Hadid went further, uploading to her Instagram a screenshot of a news report about Rapaport's blunder, claiming he left the original post up for an extended period even after being informed it was fake, calling his behavior "twisted" and earning thousands of likes and hundreds of comments mocking Rapaport and attacking Israel.
"How dare you talk about the Holocaust while Israel commits a massacre against Palestinians?" pro-Palestinian users wrote. "Zionists use the Holocaust to justify new genocide," others angrily charged. "You cry about Holocaust memory while Israel kills children in Gaza," "Your apology is worthless as long as you support a murderous state."
Rapaport's apology
Following criticism and controversy, Rapaport eventually removed the original post and published a public apology in his story. "The Holocaust is a stain on humanity. Today, there's a historic rise in antisemitism not seen since the 1930s," he wrote. "I've shared hundreds of stories and photos about concentration camps because we must not forget. None of those posts received attention like this one."
"I apologize to every Jew hurt by this post, I thought was real. It could have been real, but in our artificial world, it turned out not to be. October 7, 2023, changed me and millions. I won't stop speaking for the Jewish people. What I did came from good intentions. Am Yisrael Chai!"
