Rapaport Disrupted; Hides Behind Portland Police
RAPAPORT HIDES BEHIND PORTLAND POLICE
It’s easy to talk a big game when you hide inside of a building, behind a police line.
On the 12th of January, as the temperatures began to drop, activists gathered outside of the Helium Comedy Club. Action had been called from multiple groups, against the shows scheduled by Michael Rapaport to perform.
A community member had driven by earlier, just as Michael had pulled up to the front doors. He arrived in a Lyft ride-share, not even having a car waiting for him at the airport, showing how broke he is and how little support he has. The only people waiting for him were the security guards, who shook his hand as they opened the front door.
We gathered at 5:30, an hour before the doors opened. When I arrived, over 50 people were standing outside the venue, on the other side of the street. The scene was strange. Two security guards stood outside by the door, as one of the employees scurried about outside. By the time I arrived, five police were huddled in a group across the street. One of them, the commanding officer by the last name of Nielsen, walked over to the private security and spoke with them briefly.
On the other side we stood chanting, “Michael, Michael, you can’t hide, you make fun of genocide”. Palestinian flags flew in the freezing wind, while several held aloft signs printed for the event. On one side they read “Free Palestine”. The other read the theme of the evening next to a slice of watermelon, “Genocide Isn’t Funny”.
I had brought a box of stickers that were printed by a member of the community for the show. They were an assortment of Free Palestine stickers, cutouts of the land, and Ceasefire Now stickers. The one I was most excited to hand out read, “Michael Rapaport is a fucking piece of shit”.
The officers walked to their police officers, and turned on their flashing lights. I watched as Nielsen drove into the street. He then proceeded to get out of his car and storm over to an activist standing on the curb. Nielsen tried to intimidate them and stood nose to nose. Two fellow officers surrounded the person.
It was a strange interaction, as he didn’t say much but raised his finger at the person who stood and laughed. We surrounded the police and proceeded to scream at them, asking who the hell they thought they were. They quickly scrambled back into their police cars.
Just as Nielsen went to sit in his squad car, a massive firework went off in the night. It flashed the scene with a bright light. They turned on their sirens, and tried to leave the area. Another large firework erupted next to the building.
We chanted, “move back!”, as the police proceeded to back their vehicles onto Hawthorne Street. The cars drove a block back, and sat idle for a minute.
Some began to wander across the street, and spilled into the empty roadway. In that time, the belt barriers that were meant to act as a line for attendees were knocked over. Eggs were plastered over the sign that read “Helium Comedy Club”. The tent that was set up for those with tickets to wait under was made uneven. The security guards did little as they waited inside.
One employee proceeded to go outside, after the things were simply knocked over. He picked up the ropes and moved things inside and close to the door. He began to taunt the people across the street as we chanted, “Helium, Helium, You Can’t Hide! We Charge You With Genocide!”. The man with a flat-brim hat yelled at the crowd and cried, “c’mon I just work here!”. To which people responded with a “fuck you too man, your comedy club sucks”.
A flare was lit and dropped in the middle of the road. At that moment, the police cars drove back to the area and staged. The five officers returned to the other side of the street, while a few more squad cars parked on the corner. They got out and lined the sidewalks, to protect the doors of the establishment. Another police van pulled up, and both corners were blocked by police.
Eventually, the police proceeded to walk together into the road, led by Nielsen. They formed a line in the road and stood toe to toe with one of the Palestinian organizers. The man asked what he expected them them all to do. Nielsen communicated that they would need to be on the sidewalks.
With that, he walked across the street, next to the entrance. We continued to chant “OUT OF PORTLAND!”. Several activists proceeded across the street. The police line shambled back to the entrance, as they were followed by people standing up to them.
They lined up once again near the door. I watched as the man who had been told to get out of the street, now stood next to the police line. An officer attempted to step forward a step and tell him he needed more space. He laughed and pointed at his toes saying something along the lines of “I don’t know man you’re the one walking towards me”.
Eventually the crowd walked across the street, as we proceeded to stand up directly against the police line. By then one or two attendees proceeded to scurry in, behind several police officers. As the Zionists walked in they looked embarrassed and tried to move in quickly. We booed and screamed “fuck you, genocide supporters!”.
That led us into the street, as we were tired of the attendees feeling comfortable. As I stood in the street, recording the squad cars that continued to drive onto the corners, a police officer got on the intercom. They announced that anyone blocking traffic would be subject to arrest. I yelled back, “you guys are blocking traffic motherfuckers”.
When the majority of the mob of Portlanders proceeded to stand on the sidewalk in front of the police line, I joined. I recorded the police officers, who looked extremely nervous. We heckled them, and they backed up little by little, till the entrance to the doors was a tiny corridor.
Within a half an hour, more of Michael’s supporters wandered into the area. Some parked nearby, and met with members of the security team. They gave them an escort, as they walked through the crowd of people screaming obscenities at them. Some of the attendees were bold and flipped off the opposition. Yet they too, like Michael Rapaport, talked a lot of trash for hiding behind a police line.
I recorded the police line and gave them lip. We chanted “PPB, KKK, IDF THEY’RE ALL THE SAME!”.
At one point, I witnessed a police officer attempt to grab one of the activists simply standing on the sidewalk with their back to the line. The officer, Martinuic, grabbed the person by the back and arms. I walked directly to them and yelled, “keep your hands to yourself piggy”.
The officer shook his head and said, “oh yeah is that the best you can do?”. Yet he stumbled his response, and immediately stepped back with the line.
Several of Michael’s supporters wandered in from multiple angles. When they approached, some handed them copies of my zine that were printed off for the occasion. The zine read “BOYCOTT HELIUM COMEDY CLUB, Michael Rapaport is a racist, and Helium profits off of the genocide.” They told them, “show’s canceled, read all about it”.
While multiple of the white fans of Michael acted ignorant of the situation, and took the zines, they still made their way to the police line. Some of us proceeded to make it difficult simply by standing in their way, as we kept our hands to ourselves. One woman arrived, already attempting to cover her face. When people stood in the way of another white couple, that was again trying to cover their faces, the woman looked like she was going to cry.
At that moment, as I stood next to the police line, an old racist appeared, as he walked quickly. He screamed “get out of the way you faggot!” directly at me. Then he repeated the slur, and tried to shove me hard, while lunging for my neck. For a small man his assault was weak, and revealed the type of people that enjoy Michael Rapaport, homophobes and fascists.
The police line opened and let him in. He then hid behind the line as he claimed that I had touched him, which was a bold faced lie, as I was recording and my hands were holding my phone. I called him out yelling, “that’s assault! That man just assaulted me. I didn’t fucking touch him!”. Portland Police continued to let him stand behind them as he rambled incoherently.
To the officers protecting him, I called them out, stating “that’s a hate crime, motherfuckers. Arrest him.” Then I joked that I’d like to file a police report. They completely ignored me and I added “I actually don’t cause fuck you guys. But you just let a man commit a hate crime.”
The night continued with the police attempting to grab protesters, as they simply stood on the sidewalk, as the police commanded. Nielsen, Mertinuic, and Jackson were all throwing a fit.
Some of the attendees for Michael’s shows continued to show ignorance. One man claimed, “I don’t even know what’s going on”. I spotted another man talking at length with someone recording him. The video was released later where he condescendingly laughed, and said “you don’t even know what I do for work”. This was laughable as he saw this as his 15 minutes of fame.
Of those that did arrive, several were convinced that the show had been canceled because of the police presence and they left. Another woman arrived, holding a THC drink. She held the can as she tried to argue with a protester incoherently, no doubt extremely high. Eventually she got sick of being called out for supporting genocide and left with her partner.
I recorded one video where two white women wandered in, walking fast. Once again they were embarrassed by the presence of the protest and tried to avoid the crowd. Several people hurled insults. As I recorded them squeezing against the wall to shuffle behind the police line, two men walked out of the doors for the show and walked away down the street.
All in all, by the time the show was set to start, only 30–40 people wandered in. Several were convinced that the show had been called off, or simply didn’t want to deal with the public pressure. The venue seats over 200, which meant a very empty show. The numbers outside, which had thinned out due to the biting cold, were more than those that showed up to support the racist performer.
I decided to wander off with a friend for a smoke break, and kept an eye on the surrounding area. I checked on the cop cars that were now surrounding the venue. It was a beautiful sight to see that two of the cop cars had been spray-painted with the anarchy “A”. One of the police vehicles had their logo covered with the stickers reading “Michael Rapaport is a fucking piece of shit”.
Eventually, an hour into his first show, the organizers announced that people would be dispersing in ten minutes. It was a little odd, considering the fact that he had another show later in the evening. Some of us asked each other why we would leave. But essentially it was called due to the increasing cold and the risk of hypothermia.
The second night was also called off, due to the risk of driving in the extreme weather. The absolute lack of support for Rapaport was evident. There was also the fact that anarchists and mutual aid groups had work to do with the increasing cold.
The crowd left their own ways, and headed home, as the police line continued to stand in the freezing wind.
I left with comrades, and proceeded to walk to their vehicle. As soon as we were loading supplies, two squad cars pulled up and blasted us with their massive floodlights. It was clear they were trying to intimidate us and follow us to our destinations.
We decided to take a walk, to lose the police vehicles. For several blocks, the cops continued to tail us with their blinding lights. At one point, they purposefully parked on both sides of an unhoused person’s tent, just to harass a woman trying to sleep. They followed us for several blocks, until we were able to lose them by walking up a one-way road. Eventually a comrade picked us up and we were able to leave safely. When the comrade retrieved their vehicle, it was close to midnight, as a single officer stood outside in the dropping temperature.
Rapaport posted on his story, claiming that he had two excellent shows. He proceeded to threaten a local business owner directly, as he attempted to trash talk the Portlanders that had protested his show. It’s really easy to talk trash when you went and hid behind a police line the entire night. As we are able to count, the number of people that got in was only about 30 to 40, in a club that seats over 200.
The city of Portland had wasted unmeasurable resources on defending a show that had abysmal turnout. We had welcomed Rapaport to our city in the Portland fashion, with fireworks and escalating into a Friday night riot.
RAPAPORT THREATENING PORTLAND LOCALS DIRECTLY
This was not the end of the bigot’s desire for attention. The next night, we discovered that due to low ticket sales, the two shows that were scheduled for Saturday night were merged into a single show.
Because of the snow and dangerous temperatures, activists had decided that it was not worth once again showing up. That night, the first two deaths due to hypothermia were recorded. Unhoused Portlanders were at extreme risk due to the cold.
Anarchists and mutual aid groups had a lot of work to do. They helped over 40 people to get into hotel rooms, out of the dangerous cold. They also showed up at encampments and tents to provide warming supplies and hot food.
The efforts of the community were focused on helping others, while Rapaport continued to talk a big game. On his story he posted a clip from Taxi Driver, claiming that he was literally like Travis Bickle, despite the fact that Bickle never hid behind a police line, and attempted to assassinate a politician.
The night before, in between the two shows with lackluster attendance, Michael continued to harass the owner of Coy&Co, a floral shop. He sent a series of messages with continuingly increasing spelling errors. His harassment only grew overnight, as his obsession with the owner is something that is concerning.
He claimed that she hated her father, and called her a “self hating lonely animal”. The amount of projection from an extremely weak man is laughable, but also concerned us for the state of his mental sanity.
He proceeded to message the owner with a string of unhinged messages, riddled with spelling errors, and referring to himself as “daddy”.
In the series of messages as he mocked her for closing early due to the dangerous road conditions, he threatened her directly. Michael claimed that he would show up at her shop. He told her “look outside”, and she checked her cameras to find no one there.
Then Rapaport posted photos on his Instagram, in a failed attempt to dox her once again (he had doxed her after she had spoken up against his performances weeks prior). She messaged him back and told him that he needed to take down the photos on his story, as they were not her, and instead were a friend that she had lost to leukemia a year ago.
The situation was a clear case of the man losing his mind, desperate for attention. He begged her to message him back, as he also began other activists directly through direct messages. One of the activists, an accountant, was also Jewish, and he continued to hurl insults claiming that she also “hated the Jews and her father”. He threatened her once again, with attempting to dox her, by sending her a photo of her.
They invited him to offer his hotel room to an unhoused Jewish person if he truly stood for what he believed in. Considering the fact that they were doing direct mutual aid throughout the day, they added that they didn’t have the time to read his angry messages.
He recorded himself walking around downtown Portland on Broadway and Harvey Milk (most likely he spent the weekend at the Benson, which is indicative of how broke he is). In the video he once again claimed it had been a solid show and a “full house”, despite the venue itself contradicting him later on. Truly it was laughable at how sad and alone this man is.
He posted a video of himself outside, while holding the sticker that read “Michael Rapaport is a fucking piece of shit”, as he stood in the empty street. This was following the single show that night, despite his booking two. With him was the Zionist “rapper” that he records videos gooning around with as his friend spits absolute trash. Regardless, Michael had hidden inside the night before, and the only reason that he stood outside is because he was lonely.
We discovered why he was so desperate afterwards. Through messaging the website, we learned that his show on Saturday also had very low attendance due to the weather, as many people had messaged them, wanting refunds due to the storm.
Then the next day we found out that his show for Sunday was completely canceled, as they claimed it was due to the weather conditions. It isn’t hard to surmise that it was due to low ticket sales for a final night, and the club not wanting to deal with more action.
I received a message from a comrade in Sacramento, who told us how they had also protested his show the month before. Just like us in Portland, his show was met with more counter-protesters to his racist supporters. And just like here, the club named Punchline Comedy canceled his second night of performances due to abysmal turnout.
Michael had tried to claim on his story once again that the shows were successful, as he posted a photo of a now closed down venue, acting as if he had performed the night of the cancellation. The club itself used to be in Sacramento but had since moved to the Bay area, and the activists had called him out on his bold-faced lie. Rapaport removed the story in haste.
Then that same day, we have now discovered that the next stop on his tour was Royal Oak, Michigan. As of this morning all shows planned for Michigan have also been canceled, according to the Comedy Castle. They announced that with the cancellation, they would be issuing refunds as well.
That’s three cities in a row that have had to cancel Michael’s shows due to community pressure. In Portland, even Mother Nature didn’t want him here and helped us to cancel the final night. From Sacramento, to Portland, to Michigan, his career is in sharp decline.
In discussion with a comrade, his next shows are in Miami, on the 8th and 9th of February. These shows will also face opposition from Miami residents who do not want a genocidal mouthpiece for the IOF in their city.
Boycott Helium Comedy Club, as they will never be able to live this down. They chose to platform a genocidal maniac, who is clearly a tool of the State of Israel. Because the owners are not locals, and have deep ties to the Netanyahu regime and the forces committing genocide, as well as influencing elections and judges to support the fascist “Nation-State Law”; the comedy club should be closed down.
Genocide Isn’t Funny.
Michael Rapaport Is A Fucking Piece of Shit.
