Juan Pablo Has Some Not-So-Nice Thoughts About a Gay 'Bachelor' Season
UPDATE: ABC, Warner Horizon, and "The Bachelor" executive producers have issued the following statement in response to Juan Pablo Galavis's remarks about gay people on the show: "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."
Moments later, Juan Pablo himself posted an apology on Facebook:
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They say every rose has its thorn, and it seems "Bachelor" Juan Pablo Galavis is no exception.
The current flower distributor, who is the first Latino to lead the franchise, just got a whole lot less dreamy to a whole bunch of people when he made some rather shocking comments about the possiblity of there ever being a gay or bisexual bachelor.
"I don't think it's a good example for kids to watch that on TV," he told The TV Page. And it gets worse from there, down to Juan Pablo saying such a bachelor would be "too hard for TV" and claiming gay people are "more pervert in a sense."
"Obviously people have their husband and wife and kids and that is how we are brought up. 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," he continued. "Two parents sleeping in the same bed and the kid going into bed … It is confusing in a sense. But I respect them because they want to have kids. They want to be parents. So it is a scale … Where do you put it on the scale? Where is the thin line to cross or not? You have to respect everybody’s desires and way of living. But it would be too hard for TV."
Not surprisingly, "Bachelor" fans on Twitter are outraged:
Ugh NO Juan Pablo I thought you were the perfect, not homophobic, man! #thebachelor argh
— Ellie Pointing (@elliepointing) January 18, 2014
just took #thebachelor off my dvr... i have plenty of other shows to watch that don't feature ignorant homophobes.
— tara brooke ♡ (@mstarabrooke) January 18, 2014
So a guy who sleazes it up w/multiple women ON TV thinks a gay contestant is bad for kids? #abc #thebachelor #JuanPablo
— Portia McGonagal (@PortiaMcGonagal) January 18, 2014
#TheBachelor thinks gay people are a bad example for kids. He's a single dad dating 27 women at the same time on TV, so MORAL AUTHORITY.
— Dave Quinn (@NineDaves) January 18, 2014
Has there ever been a #TheBachelor gaffe this huge, like, in the show's 8,000 year run? Not cool, JP.
— Shaunna Murphy (@ShaunnaLMurphy) January 18, 2014
Ay dios mio! Did ABC not put Juan Pablo through PR training? #TheBachelor
— Aggi Ashagre (@AggiAshagre) January 18, 2014
You cannot say you "respect" gay ppl and then say they are "perverts" and "too hard to watch" on TV. Be serious. #TheBachelor @abc
— Jincey Lumpkin, Esq. (@JuicyJincey) January 18, 2014
Wait... is @JuanPaGalavis on @DuckDynastyAE or #TheBachelor?
— Shawn Hollenbach (@shawnhollenbach) January 18, 2014
If traditional dating values exist anywhere, it's on #TheBachelor.
— Tyler Dinucci (@nuccbko) January 18, 2014
How all of this will affect the current season of "The Bachelor" – in terms of ratings and otherwise – has yet to be determined. What do you think should happen next?