Ariana Grande's had a bittersweet year. On one hand, she dominated the airwaves, dropping the epic break-up anthem 'thank u next' plus her chart-topping, Grammy-nominated album Sweetener. However, she also experienced personal tragedy, as her ex-boyfriend Mac Miller died from an accidental overdose. Shortly afterward, she split from fiancée Pete Davidson, breaking the internet's heart.
Luckily Ariana's fans have her back. Be warned, trolls! The Arianators are ride or die, and will do anything to protect their high-ponytail queen. 48-year-old actor Michael Rapaport learned that the hard way, when - you know, Michael Rapaport? He directed that great documentary about A Tribe Called Quest? No? He starred on the Fox sitcom The War At Home? Still nothing? He was in that cheesy shark movie Deep Blue Sea? No? Doesn't ring a bell? Hmmm...
Oh, he made that viral video this year, where he found that weird-looking cat, and said it looked like his grandma? "Blink, motherf******!" Yeah, that's Michael Rapaport! That Cat Yelling Guy! Everybody loves the cat yelling guy. He yells at cats!
Anyway, the comedian/podcaster/living-personification-of-Brooklyn posted a pretty offensive tweet about Ariana. "Ariana Grande is 27 acts 12," he wrote, "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." An old, makeup-free photo of Ariana was attached to the tweet, presumably to show how disturbingly un-hot she is. (Sadly, we weren't all born naturally beautiful, like Michael Rapaport.)
Needless to say, the Arianators - who are kind of like Terminators, but more frightening - were not impressed by Rapaport's repartee. They accused him of attention-seeking, shaming, sexism, misogyny, bullying and breaking Phoebe's heart on Friends. (In season 5, Rapaport played Gary the cop, who shoots a bird in the bedroom for chirping too loudly. Not cool, Gary! Not cool!)
On Instagram, one user wrote, "This is some misogynist shit right here. F*** everything about this." Another added, "It's okay to not like her or find her attractive, but I don't understand tearing down her appearance? That's a really low blow and bullying is not okay." And a third commented, "Sir you are a 48-year-old grown man bullying a 27-year-old woman. Zero cool points."
On Twitter, Rapaport responded to the controversy with a sincere apology. Just kidding. He compared Ari to Donald Trump (obviously), called everyone offended by his 'joke' snowflakes (because they're so unique?) and encouraged his critics to eat 'Dwycks.' ('DWYCK' is a reference to a classic rap song created by Gang Starr and Nice & Smooth in 1994. I'm pretty sure it isn't about Ariana Grande, since she was one year old at the time.)
"When I talk vicioulsy 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. Stay Disruptive."
Well, you'll never look at that weird cat video the same again, will you? It's so hard to separate art from the artist.