YESTERDAY, MICHAEL RAPAPORT made the decision to denigrate a female singer, 23 years his junior, in a post shared on his Instagram page.
Uploading an old photo of Ariana Grande, the 48-year-old actor and comedian provided his followers, who number in excess of 1.6 million, with an unsolicited assessment of Ariana’s physical appearance.
Ariana Grande is 27 acts 12, you take off those boots she hides her legs in, the cat eye make up and the genie pony tale and I think there’s hotter women working the counter at Starbucks, no disrespect to Starbucks.
If you thought this was a relatively bizarre outburst, you’re not alone.
Picking apart her appearance, proclaiming it to fall short of his expectations and then attempting to bolster his argument with the introduction of a Starbucks spectrum was always going to provoke negative reaction.
Indeed, Instagram users, who felt Michael’s post was somewhat unnecessary to say the very least, questioned the actor’s motives.
Why the anger dude? What could she have possibly done to you personally, that you need to attack her like that? It’s assholes like you that make the internet a f*cked up place.
You know she is a musical artist not a tool to engage your sexual fantasies right?
This was tone deaf for the times, Michael. Not sure where the funny part was in this.
In response, Michael took to Twitter to justify his weirdly specific attack on Ariana, implying that his criticism of Donald Trump should give him free rein to denigrate female popstars.
In other words, if you’re here for his condemnation of Trump and his supporters, you should also be here for his unprompted assessment of a woman’s appearance.
When I talk viciously about The Leader of the Free World aka Dick Stain Donald Trump or Tiki Torch Tough Guys in Virginia, I’m a Social Media HERO, but a joke about Ariana Grande is SHAMING. EAT Dwycks SnowFlakes.
Again, if this logic is lost on you, you’re not alone, so let’s dissect Michael’s justification for a moment.
If his tweet is to be taken at face value, he believes his criticism of a world leader and disdain for the alt-right is on par with a uniquely personal attack on a female popstar, and should be treated as such.
As Michael’s initial post was objectionable and its justification was moronic, it would be tempting to just ignore the entire episode.
Unfortunately, however, that’s not possible, especially when you consider the far-reaching effect a reductive post like this can have.
Since sharing his thoughts on Ariana, his comment section has acted as a platform for abhorrent remarks about a young woman who happens to have a career in the public eye.
From branding her ‘ugly’ ‘a hoe’, ‘a ferret’ and much, much worse in between, members of the public have taken their lead from Michael, and contributed to a misogynistic narrative snaking its way through the comment section.
Michael may be of the impression that the episode begins and ends with his thoughts on the matter, but it doesn’t.
He gave rise to a barrage of a criticism against a young woman because he considered his juvenile assessment of her physical appearance worthy of a post.
