Actor and comedian Michael Rapaport says he stopped calling President Donald Trump “Dick Stain” because he wanted to back the push to bring home hostages seized in the October 7 attacks.
Speaking Friday on the Hate to Break It to Ya Podcast, Rapaport said his perspective shifted after speaking with hostage families and seeing the aftermath of the attacks firsthand.
Rapaport said he believed Trump represented the best chance of securing the hostages’ release as their captivity stretched from weeks into months and then beyond a year. For that reason, he explained, he chose to stop using derogatory nicknames such as “Dick-Stained Donald Trump,” saying the priority of getting the hostages home outweighed his desire to insult the president.
He added that the conversations he had with relatives of the hostages, along with the reality of what he witnessed, made the decision worthwhile. Rapaport said he had “fought, begged, prayed” and pleaded for the hostages to be returned “by any means necessary,” which is why he now pushes back when people ask why he no longer uses the insult.
On January 15, 2025, Trump announced that Israel and Hamas had reached a ceasefire and hostage-release agreement, describing it as the product of months of diplomatic work. The agreement, mediated by the United States, Qatar, and Egypt, resulted in the release of hostages taken during the October 7 attacks.
Rapaport said some critics still question why he has backed away from the nickname, but his response is that they are welcome to criticize Trump on their own platforms.
He said people sometimes challenge him by suggesting he has gone quiet on Trump, but Rapaport argued that he has already said plenty. If others want to continue that criticism, he said, they can “carry the torch” themselves.
For Rapaport, he said, the decisive issues were bringing the hostages home and defending Israel, including its right to exist. “Those two things were enough for me,” he said.
Rapaport said he still has criticisms of Trump but decided it was more important to avoid personal attacks while pushing for the release of the hostages.
“The insight that I’ve had to not be disparaging to him simply for that. Period,” Rapaport said. “I could still be critical and still be frustrated and have all the things, but that’s what, that’s what was… it’s… for me, I know it was important enough for me to no longer carry on like that.”
“Dick Stain” had been Rapaport’s go-to nickname for Trump, appearing repeatedly in his social media posts and videos.
