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Tom Sandoval can’t appear to keep away from controversy nowadays. The Vanderpump Rules star, 40, triggered a firestorm on social media after he in contrast his dishonest scandal to O.J. Simpson‘s trial and George Floyd‘s homicide, which led to him issuing a public apology on his Instagram Stories.
“My intentions behind the comments I made in New York Times Magazine were to explain the level of national media attention my affair received,” Tom wrote on Tuesday, February 20. “The comparison was inappropriate and ignorant. I’m incredibly sorry and embarrassed.”
Tom made the controversial feedback in his interview with the New York Times printed Feb. 20. The Bravo star was requested why “Scandoval” (his months-long affair with former co-star Raquel Leviss that was uncovered in March 2023) turned so notorious in popular culture.
“I’m not a pop-culture historian really, but I witnessed the O.J. Simpson thing and George Floyd and all these big things, which is really weird to compare this to that, I think, but do you think in a weird way it’s a little bit the same?” Tom stated.
Irina Aleksander, the reporter who wrote the piece on Tom, famous that she tried discovering the logic in his response. “I think I knew what he meant,” she wrote. “He was trying to express the oddity of becoming the symbolic center of a nationwide discussion and a major news story; what he communicated instead was something more honest, which is just how much the experience had made him lose perspective.”
Irina additionally stated that Bravo PR and Vanderpump Rules showrunner Alex Baskin reached out to her once they heard Tom stated one thing questionable within the interview. “Everyone was concerned,” Irina wrote within the article. “What was it that he said about O.J. Simpson and George Floyd exactly? Maybe Sandoval wasn’t ready for this.”
Tom obtained quite a lot of hate on social media for evaluating his affair to O.J. Simpson and George Floyd. Guerdy Abraira from The Real Housewives of Miami took him to activity on Instagram. “The disrespect… and during Black History Month… WOW just plz,” Guerdy wrote within the feedback of a Bravo fan account’s put up. “PLEASE reflect on this repulsive statement you made (regarding GEORGE FLOYD r.i.p), especially in Black History Month and take it back!! NOT OK! An immediate apology is in order, sir.”
Elsewhere within the NYT interview, Tom stated that dishonest on Ariana Madix received him extra hate than former That ’70s Show actor Danny Masterson, who’s in jail for 30 years for rape. “I did what I did because I was in an unhappy place in my life,” Tom defined. “I got caught up in my emotions and fully fell in love. Like, for real.” He added, “The scandal has made the show so big, it’s kind of cool and crazy. Even though it’s negative and at my expense.”