American actor/comedian Michael Rapaport returns Eretz Nehederetan Israeli current affairs-oriented comedy show by Keshet 12 on Wednesday night, was particularly scathing about how Hollywood stars are ignoring the plight of hostages held by Hamas in Gaza since the October 7 attack. The skit was broadcast.
Playing himself as host of the Oscars ceremony, he said in his opening monologue that the remaining 134 hostages had something in common with the Tinseltown royalty who attended the show – both were fed for four months. He joked that he had not done so. “Next year’s Hostage Diet will be bigger than Ozempic,” he joked.
In this clip, we used footage from the Oscars to make it look real
The sketch uses clips of real stars who attended recent awards ceremonies to show whether Rapaport, who visited Israel a few months ago and became a spokesperson for the hostages, is actually hosting the ceremony. What was particularly impressive was how it looked.
“I know you beautiful people are always thinking about the hostages in Gaza, but you never speak out about them. If Hamas attacked Israel and kidnapped all the dolphins, , he would have been wearing a dolphin helmet and throwing tuna on the podium,” he said, also mentioning several other causes of glitterati.
He also skewered the apathy of Hollywood heavy hitters by introducing a new awards category. One of them wore black to protest sexual misconduct a few years ago, but made no attempt to wear a yellow ribbon to denounce the widely publicized sexual assault. It was dedicated to actresses. “Hamas is making Harvey Weinstein look like Peter Pan,” he said, referring to the producer, who was convicted of multiple sexual assault charges and sparked the #MeToo movement.
Another category criticized actors who play dead Jews but refuse to speak out about live babies held hostage by Hamas. This category includes two actors who are actually nominated for Oscars this year for playing real-life Jews: Cillian Murphy as Robert Oppenheimer in Oppenheimer and Leonard Byrne in The Maestro. Bradley Cooper played the role of Stein. He poked fun at the silence of Jewish actors, naming Seth Rogen, Adam Sandler (who actually signed a petition in support of Israel), and Larry David.
Rapaport addresses misinformation supporting Hamas on TikTok
He also addressed the elephant in the room and the fact that stars fear alienating young fans on social media. He said Gen Z fans were “much more dangerous than Hamas,” but added that the hostages would forgive them before being dragged off the stage.
Eretz Nehederet has featured numerous English-language sketches since the war began, one of which featured actor Brett Gelman. The Oscar ceremony is coming up on March 10th.
