Fans fume over key detail when actor Michael Imperioli shown on big screen at basketball game

Viewers called it a "crime against humanity".

For millions of fans of The Sopranos, Michael Imperioli will always be Christopher Moltisanti.

So there was an uproar this week when the acting great made a visit to a New York Knicks basketball game and was shown on the jumbotron.

“Michael Imperioli – actor, ‘The White Lotus’,” the screen read.

They may as well have broken omertà.

Actor. The White Lotus.

This is a crime against humanity. pic.twitter.com/jd8ATc6rWq

— Barstool Sports (@barstoolsports) January 19, 2023

Fans objected to the 56-year-old’s Emmy Award-winning eight-year run as Tony Soprano’s nephew on the hit HBO crime drama being supplanted by his most recent role as Dominic Di Grasso on season two of The White Lotus.

Barstool Sports called it a “crime against humanity”, and that was just the start of the backlash.

“Forever CHRISTOPHER!” tweeted one fan.

“Wait what no sopranos or good fellas or bad boys or basketball diaries smh the disrespect is real lol,” wrote another.

A third added: “What is this? That’s not even Michael Imperioli. That’s Christopher Moltisanti you blind bastards.”

F. Murray Abraham and Michael Imperioli in 'The White Lotus'.

But a younger audience was more than willing to claim him as the sex addict son of a Sicilian father on a search for his ancestors.

“Lol you were born in the 60s huhh,” one wrote to anyone claiming Imperioli as Moltisanti.

“Only Boomers are mad that Michael Imperioli is being known for his work on White Lotus instead of Sopranos,” wrote a second.

“As much as I LOVED Michael Imperioli in the Sopranos, I’m sure he does not always just want to be known as “the guy from the Sopranos”. Dude was great in white lotus,” added another.