The current 'Bachelor' is a homophobic bigot

PASADENA, Calif. - If you need another reason not to watch "The Bachelor" - and trust me, you don't - here it is: Juan Pablo Galavis, the current bachelor on the ABC series, is a big, stinkin' homophobe. A narrow-minded bigot.

And, no, that's not too harsh.

In an interview with Sean Daly at ABC's star party/interview event at the Television Critics Association press tour, the utterly oblivious Galavis outlined his reasons why there should never be a gay bachelor in any upcoming season of the show:

"I don't think it's a good example for kids to watch that on TV," Galavis said.

"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.... Two parents sleeping in the same bed and the kid going into bed.... It is confusing in a sense."

Clearly, it's confusing to Galavis, who went out of his way to say that he has gay friends. Which is sort of like a racial bigot insisting that he has black friends.

The current bachelor added, "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."

As opposed to have straight men and women engaging in sexual relations with multiple partners on "The Bachelor."

What pushed all this over the top was Galavis' observation about his gay friends: "They're more perverts, in a sense."

This coming from, again, a guy who goes on TV and makes out with/has sex with multiple women in his search for true love. That's just normal behavior.

This coming from a single father who is on "The Bachelor" and is sitting in moral judgment of others.

ABC and the producers, not surprisingly, have issued a statement condemning Galavis' bigotry:

"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."

That's a very mild rebuke. It would have been nice if ABC had acknowledged the bigotry and stupidity Galavis spewed at a press event.

If there's any humor to this, it's that, earlier in the day, TV critics staying at the Langham Hotel in Pasadena had long-stemmed roses delivered to their rooms. The card attached read, "Will you accept this rose? - Juan Pablo."

It was delivered to both the female and male critics. Galavis must be horrified.

UPDATE: This apology was posted on Galavis' Facebook page:

I want to apologize to all the people I may have offended because of my comments on having a Gay or Bisexual Bachelor. The comment was taken out of context. If you listen to the entire interview, there's nothing but respect for Gay people and their families. I have many gay friends and one of my closest friends who's like a brother has been a constant in my life especially during the past 5 months. The word pervert was not what I meant to say and I am very sorry about it. Everyone knows English is my second language and my vocabulary is not as broad as it is in Spanish and, because of this, sometimes I use the wrong words to express myself. What I meant to say was that gay people are more affectionate and intense and for a segment of the TV audience this would be too racy to accept. The show is very racy as it is and I don't let my 5 year old daughter watch it. Once again, I'm sorry for how my words were taken. I would never disrespect anyone.

Sinceramente,

Juan Pablo Galavis.

The comments were not taken out of context. If you listen to the entire interview, you will hear him talk about his "respect" for gay people — again, like "Some of my best friends are black."

This is backtracking and excusing, not so much apologizing.