Petition Created to Keep Colton Underwood from Monetizing his Coming Out Experience
A backlash against Colton Underwood is swelling with the announcement of a Change.org petition asking Netflix to cancel its upcoming reality show about "The Bachelor" star's coming out.
Underwood famously came out as gay last Wednesday on "Good Morning America" in an interview with Robin Roberts. The response has been largely positive, but there are critics who complain that he was disingenuous to the female contestants on the show, behaved erratically in his relationship with his Cassie Randolph, his girlfriend he met on the show, and is monetizing his coming out experience.
The petition, though, focuses on his relationship with Randolph. The petition reads: "Colton is a former bachelor lead who stalked his final pick, Cassie Randolph. He placed a tracker on her car, sent her and her friends anonymous threatening texts, and was even seen standing outside her window extremely late in the night, resulting in her brother attempting to de-escalate the situation. Cassie is a victim of Colton's abuse, and he does not deserve a platform in any way. Regardless of his sexuality, Colton should not be given a platform as a result of his abusive, manipulative, and dangerous behavior."
As of this writing, the petition, put up by someone calling themselves Anonymous N, has received over 19,000 signatures in a goal to reach 25,000.
Meanwhile, celebrities such as Dan Levy showed their support for Underwood on Twitter:
Others, though, were quick to call him out.
And many shared their feelings on the Change.org comments section:
Trish Russo summarized Underwood's pre-coming out career this way: "He knew he was struggling with his identity and went on a show about finding The One and as awkward as those final scenes were, he begged Cassie to stay with him and then turned out to be reckless and abusive complete with a restraining order. He should not be given the platform of another reality show to broadcast figuring out his issues after all this damage was done. Happy for him to see his own truth but to get paid for it and welcome any more "fame" seems truly self aggrandizing."
Kartik Joshi wrote: "We dont need another straight passing masculine tall white dude with sculpted body who chose to support anti lgbtq people, to come foreword and tell us how hard his life was... he has knowingly supported the bullies while majority of gays are being bullied for just being themselves!! He needs to stfu"
Matthew Zils echoed these sentiments: "Nobody needs to see the story of a shame-driven entitled white man who's fragile masculinity made him a threat to multiple women in his life, and whose shallow values have already had their 15 minutes of fame."
From user Laura Hopkins: "I'm disgusted that Netflix thought this was a good idea. Not one single person at the Netflix drawing board saw that Colton Underwood has a restraining order against him for literally putting a tracking device on his ex's car and stalking her and thought 'HEY MAYBE WE SHOULDN'T GIVE THIS TRASH MAN A BIGGER PLATFORM.' It sucks to know that as a woman, society will view me as collateral damage for a somewhat good looking white man's journey."
Another, Lydia Hall wrote: "I'm a survivor of stalking, and it repulses me to see someone like this given a platform as though he's done nothing wrong. I will absolutely cancel my Netflix subscription if you go through with this."
Victoria King put is bluntly: "The dumbest idea yet."
"How do we even know this (His coming out as gay), is his truth." wondered user Angela Bissett. "And why do we celebrate/watch/give more fame to men who do not treat women with respect? Not ok!"
Jason Nutile wrote: "It is ridiculous to give this stalker a show. So many other gay personalities deserve this content space. I'd rather watch L'il Nas's journey through hell and back (tee hee) to make a career for himself and live a true life than an attention grabbing no talent"
Nicole Schwartz had another suggestion: "GIVE LITTLE NAS X A SHOW"
"The fact that he was offered this show despite his problematic very recent past is just an example of the gross amounts of privilege men like him have just for existing. Give this show to more deserving members of the LGBTQIA+ community," commented Ikenna Okafor.
Ryan Zanardi: "There are so many other queer people that deserve a spotlight more than Colton. Just because he's pretty, muscular, and gay doesn't excuse that he abused his ex."
And Tyler Breslford summed it up this way: "He's problematic, an abuser, a stalker, and poor representation for the LGBTQ community. Please support and uplift BIPOC and openly gay men who embrace their queeriness. No more white cisgender gay men plssssss"
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