Michael Rapaport is addressing the fallout following his onscreen confrontation with Colton Underwood on the latest episode of “The Traitors,” saying he felt “completely misunderstood” for a comment that was widely viewed as homophobic.
The actor and comedian maintains his remarks about Underwood on the Peacock series were not intended to reference the former Bachelor’s sexuality, nor were they meant to offend anyone in the room.
“I thought that he was a Traitor, and I was riffing,” Rapaport told Entertainment Weekly in an interview this week. “I was going at him because he was going at me, and I felt defensive and I was doing my best to deflect all of the attention.”
Rapaport went after Underwood at the roundtable, just before the cast’s elimination vote. While accusing the reality star of being a Traitor, Rapaport said, “Nobody in this room would be better at holding a secret than you.”
Underwood, who was the lead of “The Bachelor” in 2019 before coming out as gay in 2021, hit back by asking, “You think it was fun [hiding my sexuality] for 29 years of my life?”
Rapaport attempted to defend the comment by claiming sexuality had “nothing to do with it.” The rest of the group, however, wasn’t convinced.
Rapaport says the moment was “misunderstood” by Underwood and the others, who quickly rallied in the Bachelor alum’s defense. They ultimately voted Rapaport off the show, with several saying they didn’t care if he was a Traitor or not, they just wanted him out of the castle.
“I felt gaslit,” Rapaport told EW. “I felt that they didn’t understand what I was saying. And I think that if the conversation had stuck to just me and Colton, it wouldn’t have gotten to the level that it got to.”
The actor admits that his “crap talk” got a “bit out of hand” and says he “wish[es] it never happened.”
“I do regret that it hurt his feelings. I do regret that it offended him,” he told the outlet. “It obviously did offend him and some other people at the table, and it caused and brought negative attention to his world and his young family. It obviously brought negative attention to my life. It brought negative attention to the show, and it’s not what my intention was. And I wish I had used different words.”
While those words led to his banishment from the show, the “True Romance” actor says he harbors no resentment toward Underwood or the others.
“I didn’t like [being voted off],” he said. “I wasn’t happy with it [but] I understood it.”
As for his relationship with Underwood now, Rapaport claims they’re on good terms.
“I spoke to him as soon as I could after production and we had a very, very, very good, grown-up conversation,” he said. “We laughed and we moved on. I actually heard from him when the episode dropped Thursday too. He reached out to me.”
Despite apologizing both on the show and online, Rapaport has still faced backlash on social media, with viewers across multiple platforms calling him “disgusting,” “homophobic” and a “piece of s–t.”
