Actor Michael Rapaport doubles down on attack on New York shoplifters with new Rite Aid video

‘Back in my Rite Aid and there’s nothing to steal because everyone stole everything’

Michael Rapaport has doubled down on his attack on shoplifters of Rite Aid by posting a new video on social media.

Last week, the 51-year-old Deep Blue Sea actor shared a viral video showing a man in a black hoodie and mask, who Rapaport claimed casually filled two bags and walked out of the Rite Aid pharmacy in New York.

“I can’t believe I’m seeing this s***,” Rapaport said in the video. “This f***ing guy just filled his two bags up with everything in Rite Aid, right here on 80th and First Avenue, he’s walking down the street like s*** is Gucci, look at me in my face like, ‘what’s good’.”

“I was watching him the whole time, my man just went Christmas shopping in January. He had the condoms, the shampoo,” he added.

Rite Aid, an American drugstore chain in the US, has come under a wide-scale shoplifting spree.

The corporation behind Rite Aid is closing 63 stores to save about £18m per year. The company said in a statement in December that the closures will help them “reduce costs, drive improved profitability and ensure that we have a healthy foundation to grow from.”

On Sunday (30 January), Mr Rapaport posted another clip on Instagram where he was seen roaming around empty isles of his local Rite Aid pharmacy on the Upper East Side, New York.

In the video, he says: “Back in my Rite Aid and there’s nothing to steal because this Rite Aid, like so many other Rite-Aids, is closing down because everyone stole everything.”

The Atypical actor also mentioned current New York mayor Eric Adams in his first video, saying that the Rite Aid would close on 15 February “because of this” level of crime.

Mr Rapaport blamed the current mayor’s predecessor Bill de Blasio and said “more ramifications” and penalties are needed for shoplifting.

“I think Eric Adams knows what’s going on, he knows how to deal with crime. I’m just hoping he lives up to our expectations,” Mr Rapaport told The Daily Mail.

He added he relied on that pharmacy to buy his mood stabilisers, and that many in the community were losing their local pharmacy and its staff losing their jobs “because of guys like this scumbum”.

Rite Aid told Fox News in a statement that it is “in the process of conducting a full investigation and will work with local law enforcement to identify and pursue this offender.”

“Like all retailers, we’ve seen a much higher level of brazen shoplifting and organised retail crime over the last year, and we are taking an active role in helping law enforcement pursue these offenders as well as working with other retailers and local leaders to push for stronger legislation to deter these types of crimes,” the statement read.