Colton Underwood Reveals Where He Stands With Michael Rapaport

Colton Underwood is willing to move forward with Michael Rapaport after a deeply personal feud with the actor during the recent season of “The Traitors.” The latest episode of the thrilling competition series generated a strong reaction from viewers who slammed Rapaport for making a “homophobic” statement during the show’s intense roundtable segment. During a recent interview, however, Underwood implied that he was willing to bury the hatchet with Rapaport once and for all.

Speaking with Entertainment Weekly, Underwood opened up about how challenging the coming-out process can be for LGBTQ+ individuals. “I’m still working on how to process it, and I think you definitely see that come up and hit me,” he said. “The reason I said yes to doing a show like The Traitors is it’s not personal.”

For those who might’ve missed it, Rapaport stunned his “Traitors” co-stars when he seemed to take a personal dig at Underwood at the end of episode 5, saying “nobody in this room would be better at holding a secret than you.” Many interpreted Rapaport’s comments as a reference to the reality star’s decision to publicly come out as gay in April 2021.

“The drama and the intensity of the show is always so game-focused, so I think that’s what just threw me a little bit, is when it got personal and he was using me as a human being instead of my gameplay against me. That’s what caught me off guard, and I think you felt that and saw it in the episode,” Underwood said.

During the episode, many of Underwood’s co-stars, including Jonny Weir and Candiace Dillard Bassett, rushed to his defense. And while Rapaport insisted his statement had nothing to do with his sexuality, Underwood certainly felt the opposite.

“I could just tell you how I took it, and I did take it that it was not in a gaming way and it was more of a personal dig at my past and what I went through and how I handled myself,” he said. “I would be the first person to say I’m definitely not perfect, and I definitely made a lot of mistakes. But at this point in my life, it was five or six years ago when I first started the coming-out process, and I’m in just such a different phase of life with my family and professionally.”

Underwood shared that he wasn’t holding a “grudge” against Rapaport, noting that the latter had reached out to apologize for his words. “… but I do think it is important for me in my life at this point to start standing up for myself. I can only be a punching bag for so long. Even today, seeing some people’s [and] fans of the show’s comments towards me, I can only sit quiet for so long,” he added.

Rapaport’s comments didn’t sit well with some fans of the show, who immediately rushed to social media to slam the “True Romance” actor over his “homophobic” comments.

“F**k Michael Rapaport,” someone wrote. “He’s been known to be a bigot for a long time. Colton’s no angel, and has a shady history too, but the sexuality comment was triggering for me. Reminded me of those men who are bullies and can’t stand when gay men call them out.”

Another user accused Rapaport of “dog-whistling the homophobia,” while a third argued that Rapaport should’ve been immediately removed from the game for his seemingly insensitive comments.

Meanwhile, other users questioned whether Rapaport meant his statement the way some cast members and other viewers were interpreting it.

“Big Brother” alum Tommy Bracco wrote, “If this is all that was said by Michael in this moment, I’m confused why everyone freaked out on him. He’s right.”