Only Murders In The Building adds Michael Rapaport to its second season

News today from the world of podcast-based murder, as Deadline reports that Hulu’s Only Murders In The Building has added a new recurring cast member for its second season. Specifically, actor and comedian Michael Rapaport is set to play a detective looking into some of the crimes that Martin Short, Steve Martin, and Selena Gomez dig up on the much-loved series.

Not all is well in the world of death-adjacent entertainment, though: Some fans of the show have already begun expressing their unhappiness about this casting decision on social media, not because Rapaport’s not a good actor—he can be both funny and appropriately menacing in the right contexts—but because of the ways his various off-camera (but frequently on-cell-phone) activities color the pick.

It would be borderline impossible to detail all the fights Rapaport has picked with various people on the internet over the last few years, usually in the form of angry rants delivered directly into his phone camera. It’s an eclectic group, though, including the Trump family, but also various professional athletes, Aziz Ansari, people attacking Chris Brown, a cat, Spike Lee, Barstool Sports, and many others. Often these battles involve elaborate insults that have featured language that’s been called out in the past as sexist or racist, generally delivered at a very high volume.

None of these critiques seem to have had an especially strong effect on Rapaport’s career—he’s still fresh off a starring role on Netflix’s four-season sitcom Atypical, and his recent credits include The Simpsons, Sneakerheads, and Hulu’s upcoming Amy Schumer vehicle Life & Beth. But some fans of Only Murders—which, despite all the murders, is celebrated for being pretty relentlessly charming and pleasant—aren’t happy to see an injection of hostile energy into its ecosystem.

Only Murders In The Building was renewed for a second season back in September 2021, halfway through airing its first season.