The network star's confrontation at a restaurant in front of the children: "A disgusting person"
Children's star Michael Sapir shared with his followers an incident that ruined his son's birthday dinner at a restaurant, after he refused a request from a diner. What happened from that moment on, according to him, caused him to set a new boundary for parents who recognize him in public.
Michael Sapir, one of the most prominent children's content stars in Israel, has spoken out against what he described as "the ugliest level of Israeli rudeness," following a celebratory dinner for his son's birthday that ended in a heated confrontation with a diner and her friends.
The Sapir family, which recently made headlines for a quarter-million shekel bat mitzvah celebration, finds itself once again at the center of online discourse, this time regarding the boundaries between public figures and the public. "This is the most disgusting phenomenon that simply ruined my day, and I don't understand why this had to happen on my son's birthday," Sapir wrote to his followers.
"A disgusting person"
According to Sapir, the incident began while he was eating with his family, when a diner approached him with her phone open on a video call.
"I am sitting with a bite in my mouth, eating, and someone approaches me with a camera open on a video call and says, 'Excuse me, can you talk to my daughter?', and I tell her, 'Excuse me ma'am, I am eating'," he described.
The refusal was not met with understanding. Sapir said the woman told her daughter on the call that he was a "disgusting person" for refusing to speak. The situation then escalated as the woman's friends, seated nearby, joined in. According to Sapir, at least five women "went off on him."
The moment that stung the most concerned his son. "I am blessing my son Elroi, 'Happy birthday to you', and she, while I am doing so, says, 'What a hypocrite'," he recounted. "Why ruin it for my child? What did he do to you?"
Even after the meal, the group did not let up, with each member approaching him personally to insist that he "needs to leave his son, be a clown, and talk to their children."
"Respect those who are in front of you"
Following the incident, Michael Sapir chose to set a public boundary with parents and children who expect him to stop everything to interact with them.
"Dear parents, when I am at a restaurant with my family, I will not be nice if you are not nice," he wrote. "If you interrupt me in the middle of a meal or during an intimate moment with my family, I will not address what you are asking of me." He concluded with a plea to respect family leisure time: "Respect those who are in front of you."
