Juan Pablo Galavis, the current star of ABC’s The Bachelor, said in a recent interview that gays should not be a part of the dating show.
When asked if he could see a season of The Bachelor in which there was a gay star, Galavis candidly admitted that he didn’t believe the format would be a “good idea” to Sean Daly of The TV Page. He elaborated, “No… I respect [gay people] but, honestly, I don’t think it’s a good example for kids.”
He also attempted to defend himself from accusations of homophobia by saying that he has a gay friend.
"Obviously people have their husband and wife and kids and that is how we are brought up,” Galavis continued. “Now there is fathers having kids and all that, and it is hard for me to understand that too in the sense of a household having peoples… Two parents sleeping in the same bed and the kid going into bed… It is confusing in a sense."
While Galavis’ initial remarks concerning a future gay Bachelor were far from supportive, his worst comment was yet to come. "There's this thing about gay people… it seems to me, and I don't know if I'm mistaken or not,” said Galavis. “But they're more 'pervert' in a sense. And to me the show would be too strong… too hard to watch."
Not long after Galavis’ comments went viral, ABC and Bachelor producers released a statement of apology: "Juan Pablo's comments were careless, thoughtless and insensitive, and in no way reflect the views of the network, the show's producers or studio."
Galavis later offered an apology of his own. The Bachelor star maintained that he is not anti-gay and that some of his statements were taken out of context. As for the use of the word pervert, Galavis said he misspoke due to the fact that English is his second language. “I want to apologize to all the people I may have offended because of my comments on having a Gay or Bisexual Bachelor. The comment was taken out of context,” wrote Galavis on his Facebook page.
“The word pervert was not what I meant to say and I am very sorry about it,” he added. “Everyone knows English is my second language and my vocabulary is not as broad as it is in Spanish and, because of this, sometimes I use the wrong words to express myself. What I meant to say was that gay people are more affectionate and intense and for a segment of the TV audience this would be too racy to accept. The show is very racy as it is and I don't let my 5-year-old daughter watch it."
– Chelsea Regan
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