Latest / The Ben and Ashley I Almost Famous Podcast / Bachelor Breaking News: Colton Underwood

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Bachelor Breaking News: Colton Underwood · The Ben and Ashley I Almost Famous Podcast

0:00
Speaker 1: This is the Benn and Ashley I Almost Famous podcast
0:03
Speaker 1: with i R Radio. Hello everyone, welcome to the Almost
0:07
Speaker 1: Famous Podcast Coulton Special Edition. This is one of those like,
0:13
Speaker 1: how many emergency podcasts have we done weeks? That's ridiculous,
0:17
Speaker 1: I mean, oh even this year, or like in general,
0:20
Speaker 1: people not wait to give their news like on a
0:22
Speaker 1: Sunday night, so that Monday we can just roll right
0:25
Speaker 1: into it. All right, So let's talk about it. Um.
0:30
Speaker 1: Colton came out as gay on Good Morning America yesterday
0:33
Speaker 1: in a interview with Robin Roberts, and I mean, I
0:37
Speaker 1: think both of us are really happy that he's able
0:40
Speaker 1: to live his true self, Like he's able to just
0:45
Speaker 1: come to, you know, the realization of who he really
0:48
Speaker 1: is and live a free, happy life. It's it's obviously
0:52
Speaker 1: been something that's really bogged down on his heart for
0:54
Speaker 1: a while. Yeah it is. I mean, it's it's good
0:59
Speaker 1: to see him have the moment, right, But at the
1:01
Speaker 1: same time, for as happy as we are that Colton
1:05
Speaker 1: gets to uh now be his his most true self,
1:09
Speaker 1: there is still the situation with Cassie that kind of
1:12
Speaker 1: has came up in the headlines as this has been announced.
1:15
Speaker 1: So today We're gonna bring on one of our favorite people.
1:18
Speaker 1: We've traveled to Las Vegas with him. Uh, Lance Bass
1:22
Speaker 1: is going to be on the podcast today. We're gonna
1:24
Speaker 1: talk through all of this stuff. Um, not only uh
1:27
Speaker 1: the announcement where Colton Underwood has came out as gay,
1:30
Speaker 1: but also, uh, what it means for the situation with Cassie.
1:33
Speaker 1: How does Colton move forward? Uh this there's a rumored
1:36
Speaker 1: show on Netflix that is being filmed right now. Um,
1:40
Speaker 1: there's a lot going on. We're gonna break it down
1:42
Speaker 1: here and just talk about what we know and who
1:45
Speaker 1: could do it better than Lance Bass, who was, honestly
1:48
Speaker 1: in a very similar situation. You know, he was thought
1:50
Speaker 1: he was a guy that all these girls wanted, who
1:53
Speaker 1: had so much attention on him being a big boy
1:57
Speaker 1: bander versus being the bachelor. I think that it's quite similar.
2:00
Speaker 1: They both came out around at the certain the same age.
2:03
Speaker 1: They both grew up in conservative Christian households, So there's
2:08
Speaker 1: a lot of similarities that I want to get into.
2:10
Speaker 1: We're gonna take a break when we come back. We're
2:11
Speaker 1: gonna do some Colton Underwood very special headlines, uh, and
2:17
Speaker 1: then bring Lance Bass onto the Almost Famous podcast. The
2:29
Speaker 1: executive producers of The Bachelor franchise have issued the following
2:33
Speaker 1: statement regarding Colton Underwood's The Bachelor Season twenty three interview
2:38
Speaker 1: on Good Morning America This Morning, Ashley, What's a Statement.
2:42
Speaker 1: Their statement reads, we are so inspired by Colton Underwood's
2:45
Speaker 1: courage to embrace and pursue his authentic self. As firm
2:49
Speaker 1: believers in the power of love, we celebrate Colton's journey
2:53
Speaker 1: in the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender queer intersect in asexual
2:58
Speaker 1: plus community every step of the way. Bachelor Nation rallies
3:04
Speaker 1: around Colton Underwood after he comes out as gay. So
3:07
Speaker 1: proud of you. That's going to us weekly, so Blake says.
3:11
Speaker 1: I texted him. I'm sure I'll hear from him in
3:13
Speaker 1: the next couple of days, so I can let him
3:15
Speaker 1: know what I think and how proud I am of him.
3:17
Speaker 1: I can't imagine. It's impossible for me to imagine what
3:20
Speaker 1: he went through. I'm proud of him for being true
3:23
Speaker 1: to who he is. I hope that he's able to
3:25
Speaker 1: give a lot of other people courage to do the same.
3:28
Speaker 1: Proud of my guy at Colton Underwood and Hannah Godwin
3:32
Speaker 1: also said, I support Colton for having the courage to
3:35
Speaker 1: be finally able to live his authentic his life authentically.
3:40
Speaker 1: Nobody should have to hide from who they really are.
3:43
Speaker 1: I always wish Colton the very best and hoping that
3:46
Speaker 1: he has found peace. Hannah, of course, was his second
3:51
Speaker 1: third runner up, and Taitia was in that group as well,
3:54
Speaker 1: and Tatia says through her rep that she's very happy
3:57
Speaker 1: that Colton is now able to live of his life
4:00
Speaker 1: openly without fear of sharing who he is. For a
4:05
Speaker 1: Bachelors Star, Colton Underwood comes out as gay. This according
4:08
Speaker 1: to Good Morning America. Yes, okay, so here are some
4:13
Speaker 1: of the quotes from the interview. He said, I ran
4:16
Speaker 1: from myself for a long time. I hated myself for
4:19
Speaker 1: a long time. I am gay, and I came to
4:22
Speaker 1: terms with that earlier this year, and I've been processing it.
4:25
Speaker 1: And the next step in all of this is sort
4:28
Speaker 1: of letting people know. I'm still nervous. But it's been
4:31
Speaker 1: a journey for sure. Um. He also says Robin Roberts,
4:36
Speaker 1: who was also openly gay, so that she saw the
4:38
Speaker 1: joy and saw the relief in Colton before and after
4:41
Speaker 1: the interview. She said that he was like all tense
4:43
Speaker 1: and of course very nervous before the interview. UM, but
4:45
Speaker 1: then afterwards he just it just seemed like a you know,
4:49
Speaker 1: a weight was lifted. He said that he's going through,
4:52
Speaker 1: you know, a very emotional time, but in a very good, happy,
4:55
Speaker 1: positive way. He says it's the happiest and healthiest he's
4:58
Speaker 1: ever been. Um. And there was there was a time
5:01
Speaker 1: where he said it was a wake up call. He
5:03
Speaker 1: said he would have rather died than said that he
5:05
Speaker 1: was gay. He said that there was a moment when
5:07
Speaker 1: he was living in l A when he woke up
5:10
Speaker 1: and he didn't think he was going to wake up
5:12
Speaker 1: because he didn't have the intentions of waking up. Um,
5:15
Speaker 1: And he did and that was a moment where he
5:18
Speaker 1: he knew he had to take back control of his life. Well,
5:22
Speaker 1: there is obviously the celebration I think for for most people.
5:27
Speaker 1: I'm not gonna say everybody. I'm sure there's some people
5:29
Speaker 1: out there not feeling this way. UM. On Colton Underwood's announcement,
5:33
Speaker 1: there's a celebration, there's some peace. Um, there's a lot
5:37
Speaker 1: of courage that it took for Colton to do this. Uh,
5:40
Speaker 1: this is starting a whole new journey that you know,
5:42
Speaker 1: we all hope UM lifts a burden from him. However,
5:47
Speaker 1: the as many people have stated, and we've got a
5:50
Speaker 1: lot of messages, there's a lot of headlines, a lot
5:52
Speaker 1: of opinions about this. We have to talk about it.
5:54
Speaker 1: You still have the Cassie Randolf situation still looming right
5:58
Speaker 1: there's you know, there was the restraining order placed on
6:02
Speaker 1: Coulton by Cassie that was then dropped UM over a
6:06
Speaker 1: series of a few months. Uh. And now you know
6:10
Speaker 1: Colton has came back into the public, I guess because
6:13
Speaker 1: he kind of you know, went away for a bit
6:15
Speaker 1: with this announcement. And so this headline reads cold would
6:19
Speaker 1: publicly apologizes that Cassie Randolph after coming out as gay.
6:23
Speaker 1: The quote is, I made a lot of bad choices.
6:26
Speaker 1: This according to US Weekly, he said, I got into
6:29
Speaker 1: a place with my personal life that was dark and bad.
6:32
Speaker 1: And I can list a bunch of things, but they'd
6:34
Speaker 1: all be excuses. I'd like to say, I'm sorry for
6:37
Speaker 1: how things ended. I messed up. I made about a
6:39
Speaker 1: lot of bad choices. I loved everything about her, and
6:42
Speaker 1: it's hard for me to articulate exactly what my emotions
6:45
Speaker 1: were going through that relationship with her, because obviously I
6:49
Speaker 1: had an internal fight going on, he says. I I
6:52
Speaker 1: would just say that I'm sorry from the bottom of
6:55
Speaker 1: my heart. I'm sorry for any pain and emotional stress
6:57
Speaker 1: that I caused. I wish it that it wouldn't have
7:00
Speaker 1: happened the way it did. I wish that I had
7:02
Speaker 1: been courageous enough to fix myself before I broke anyone else.
7:07
Speaker 1: It's interesting how much has happened with Colton since his
7:09
Speaker 1: memoir came out a year ago. At that point, he
7:12
Speaker 1: was still with Cassie. There was no restraining order and
7:15
Speaker 1: no harassment charges. He hadn't come out as gay, um,
7:19
Speaker 1: and he talks about you know, so I'm just wondering
7:23
Speaker 1: is he going to come out with a whole fresh
7:25
Speaker 1: book Because it's funny because because the book was called
7:29
Speaker 1: The First Time Finding Myself and Looking for Love on
7:32
Speaker 1: Reality TV, and and now he's kind of admitting that
7:34
Speaker 1: he hadn't found himself at that point. When the book
7:37
Speaker 1: came out. I know that there was rumors that he
7:39
Speaker 1: was going to add chapters to it, but it really
7:41
Speaker 1: makes me wonder if he's just going to like completely
7:44
Speaker 1: write another book. Well, yeah, you know, hey, Colton for
7:51
Speaker 1: everything that people are celebrated by, Colon always has loved
7:54
Speaker 1: to take advantage of the opportunity, like, I don't think
7:56
Speaker 1: anybody's gonna say that's not true. And so uh if
8:00
Speaker 1: if there's a book written, not a surprise, maybe it's needed.
8:04
Speaker 1: Maybe it can be a good next step step for him. Um,
8:08
Speaker 1: you know that it gets really difficult now. I think
8:11
Speaker 1: when it comes to the situation with Cassie UM after
8:15
Speaker 1: the restraining order was dropped, we haven't heard a lot
8:18
Speaker 1: about it from either of them, So there's not since
8:21
Speaker 1: we've talked about it before. You know, we've talked about
8:23
Speaker 1: it um in a few episodes in the past. We
8:28
Speaker 1: don't have a lot of new news and updates on it.
8:30
Speaker 1: There's not a lot of new information. Neither of them
8:33
Speaker 1: have really spoken their opinion. The only thing we have
8:35
Speaker 1: is Colton is now announcement because this is the first
8:37
Speaker 1: time he kind of came back to public apologizing the
8:39
Speaker 1: Cassie for the pain that he caused. Now, no Cassie
8:44
Speaker 1: is saying, well, she's not saying it. Somebody is saying
8:48
Speaker 1: it for her that she's still processing this announcement. She
8:52
Speaker 1: was not made aware that this was going to be
8:55
Speaker 1: coming out, and so I think over the next few weeks,
9:00
Speaker 1: this will be something that we cover, We have to
9:02
Speaker 1: talk about it, we'll have to see, you know what
9:04
Speaker 1: her responses. Give her time in the space to process,
9:08
Speaker 1: give her the space that she will need the process. Um.
9:12
Speaker 1: You know, but we we can't just act like this
9:14
Speaker 1: didn't happen a few months ago, right, that it did.
9:17
Speaker 1: But it also I mean, and this is my opinion,
9:19
Speaker 1: and please tell me if anybody out there disagrees, But
9:23
Speaker 1: we can still celebrate the fact that that Colton had
9:25
Speaker 1: the courage to come out, um and and tell the
9:29
Speaker 1: world that he's gay. I think we can still I
9:31
Speaker 1: think we can still feel good about that at the
9:33
Speaker 1: same time, um, not being okay with what happened a
9:36
Speaker 1: few months ago. Exactly, we can feel multiple things at
9:40
Speaker 1: once because personally, like I struggled with that I did
9:44
Speaker 1: yesterday as this came out, UM, as I watched the interview.
9:48
Speaker 1: As you know, as you see somebody that you know
9:50
Speaker 1: sit on national television and announce something that you know
9:53
Speaker 1: he had been holding on for a while, you knew
9:55
Speaker 1: that wasn't easy for him to do. UM, So you know,
9:58
Speaker 1: I personally had the emotion where I was like, I'm
10:01
Speaker 1: really happy for this moment, but I'm still not okay
10:03
Speaker 1: with what happened the past exactly. How do you balance
10:07
Speaker 1: and navigate that tension? And I personally don't know yet
10:11
Speaker 1: how I can badly, but this isn't about me, you know,
10:15
Speaker 1: I'm just sitting here as a fan or a viewer like,
10:17
Speaker 1: this isn't about me at all. We just have to continue.
10:21
Speaker 1: I feel like we just continue to feel a little
10:23
Speaker 1: bit conflicted in this while like we wait for Cassie
10:27
Speaker 1: to say something. Now that she needs to even say something,
10:29
Speaker 1: it's really like that's on her life anymore. She really
10:30
Speaker 1: doesn't have to doesn't want to. True, Yeah, but there
10:33
Speaker 1: is a tension there. However, for the sake of this podcast,
10:36
Speaker 1: we're going to cover this story that's a massive em
10:38
Speaker 1: Bachelor Nation. It's the first Bachelor who has now came
10:43
Speaker 1: out as gay. This is a story that we have
10:44
Speaker 1: to talk about that. So we're here today and that's
10:46
Speaker 1: what we're gonna bring on. Somebody who can really help
10:48
Speaker 1: navigate this with us is Lane's Bass, and I think
10:51
Speaker 1: honestly can speak a lot of wisdom and truth into
10:53
Speaker 1: this new season of life that Colton is walking into.
10:56
Speaker 1: All right, let's get lands in. WELLO, guys, Hey, how
11:01
Speaker 1: are you the ass man? It's good to talk to
11:05
Speaker 1: you again. It's been a bit. It was Las Vegas
11:08
Speaker 1: when I was last able to hang out with you,
11:11
Speaker 1: and I think Ashley is probably last able to hang
11:12
Speaker 1: out with you. Oh no, no, Lance and I have
11:14
Speaker 1: spilled him many times since intimate relationship. That's fantastic, very proud. Well, Uh, Lance,
11:23
Speaker 1: you're obviously here. Uh. Based on the announcement that Colton
11:27
Speaker 1: Underwood made yesterday, Um, there is uh and I'm gonna
11:32
Speaker 1: walk through this with you. I really hope that you
11:34
Speaker 1: can help navigate this and share a lot of wisdom
11:36
Speaker 1: because you've been through this season. But this there's these
11:40
Speaker 1: moments in in reality television, uh that just like are
11:45
Speaker 1: are in a sense like sacred or they transcend the
11:48
Speaker 1: reality television world. This is one of those yesterday. No
11:50
Speaker 1: matter you know what you think of of Colton, you
11:54
Speaker 1: you've got to celebrate this moment for him, right because
11:56
Speaker 1: you know how big of a step this was. Well,
11:59
Speaker 1: you know, I do feel like the official gay guide
12:01
Speaker 1: to people coming out. Um, it's uh, you know, in
12:05
Speaker 1: this business you meet tons of people that are still
12:07
Speaker 1: in the closet. There's several major actors and musicians out
12:11
Speaker 1: there that still have not been able to come out
12:14
Speaker 1: publicly because they fear many things. Uh. They fear what
12:17
Speaker 1: their family is going to think, they you know, their friends. Um,
12:21
Speaker 1: It's just everyone's coming out is their own story, right Uh.
12:27
Speaker 1: And I'm just glad that Colton could tell his story,
12:30
Speaker 1: you know, I can. I can really relate to his
12:32
Speaker 1: experience because in a way, you know, I was kind
12:35
Speaker 1: of like in a batch nation type situation where my
12:40
Speaker 1: fans were women and they all thought I was straight,
12:42
Speaker 1: and I that's how I made my money off of women,
12:46
Speaker 1: right and and seeing about love uh and using you
12:49
Speaker 1: know that market. So uh, you know, me coming out,
12:53
Speaker 1: it was it was scary because I'm like, well, crap,
12:55
Speaker 1: now everyone's you know, going to see me as a liar,
12:57
Speaker 1: you know, and why did I do this to them?
13:00
Speaker 1: So you start, I don't know, you start telling yourself
13:02
Speaker 1: all these just the worst case possible scenarios of everything. Um,
13:07
Speaker 1: you know, even my family. You know, I'm from Mississippi,
13:09
Speaker 1: So I was like, crap, Like, what's what's my family
13:11
Speaker 1: going to think? How is how is my little small
13:14
Speaker 1: town I'm gonna treat my family when I come out. Um. So,
13:17
Speaker 1: you know, there's there's a lot of a lot of
13:21
Speaker 1: things going through your mind before you're able to publicly,
13:25
Speaker 1: you know, admit that yes, I am gay. Um. And
13:29
Speaker 1: on the flip side of that also is you know,
13:31
Speaker 1: this gay community is very uh you know, diverse. Um,
13:34
Speaker 1: but we can also be very fickle. You know. It's uh,
13:37
Speaker 1: You're he's definitely gonna get a lot of backlash from
13:39
Speaker 1: the community at first, not not the majority, but there
13:42
Speaker 1: is a small percentage of the community that's just gonna
13:46
Speaker 1: not like the fact that he came out this way
13:48
Speaker 1: that he's using. Uh, this is you know, monetizing the experience. UM. So,
13:54
Speaker 1: I mean, you're you're gonna get that, and they don't
13:56
Speaker 1: think that he deserves this attention. Uh. And one of
14:00
Speaker 1: those reasons is and this is what I experienced when
14:02
Speaker 1: I came out. Um, you don't know when you when
14:06
Speaker 1: you first come out, most people they have no clue
14:10
Speaker 1: about the LGBT community. They don't know what the issues are.
14:13
Speaker 1: They have no idea because they've been so separated from
14:16
Speaker 1: that on purpose. UM. So when someone comes out as
14:19
Speaker 1: a public figure. So many people immediately go to like,
14:23
Speaker 1: screw that, it's too late that you know, It's like
14:25
Speaker 1: they don't they don't like to support it because they
14:28
Speaker 1: don't feel like you you know what you're talking about yet.
14:31
Speaker 1: But I don't think Colton is kind of leading that
14:33
Speaker 1: charge of trying to be the spokesperson for the LGBT community. Uh.
14:38
Speaker 1: I see him really, you know, taking the responsibility of
14:42
Speaker 1: you know, learning about the community, sharing his story with
14:45
Speaker 1: this documentary, and a lot of people like, great, this
14:47
Speaker 1: is all for the money's doing a documentary. Well, yeah,
14:50
Speaker 1: that's that could be. But I mean, for me, seeing
14:54
Speaker 1: a documentary like that is only going to help the
14:57
Speaker 1: community because people will know every every story that you
15:01
Speaker 1: see on television or or in a film of a
15:04
Speaker 1: gay you know character, everyone, you know, a different person
15:08
Speaker 1: can relate to that. And we haven't had too many
15:11
Speaker 1: representations of you know, a gay personal and television that
15:16
Speaker 1: came from this world. You know of this you know,
15:18
Speaker 1: crazy sports world. We had to hide it. And I mean,
15:21
Speaker 1: I'm just assuming that one of the reasons that he
15:24
Speaker 1: couldn't come out was because of his family and you know,
15:27
Speaker 1: his dad he calls coach, so I mean, I've I've
15:29
Speaker 1: seen that, you know, over and over and over again.
15:31
Speaker 1: I've heard you know that story, and so many people
15:34
Speaker 1: can relate to that of you know, keeping it such
15:37
Speaker 1: a sinker for so long because of your dad. You know,
15:39
Speaker 1: it's it's it's I think the number one reason people
15:42
Speaker 1: stay in the closets because their parents. Yeah, yesterday it
15:45
Speaker 1: was said that his dad actually was there for the
15:48
Speaker 1: Good Morning America interview and stood beside him, which I
15:51
Speaker 1: think is a special moment. I just want to touch
15:53
Speaker 1: on something you said earlier. There's so much you just
15:55
Speaker 1: covered that I'd love to dig into because quite honestly, uh,
15:58
Speaker 1: I don't know a lot about the community, um and
16:01
Speaker 1: I would love to, you know, to learn more. And
16:04
Speaker 1: it feels like this year, I don't know, it has
16:07
Speaker 1: just been a year of learning about so many things
16:09
Speaker 1: that I have been ignorant to or just not focused on.
16:13
Speaker 1: And so I'm really glad that we could take this moment.
16:16
Speaker 1: But you made a comment right at the beginning, you
16:17
Speaker 1: said you feel like you're the gay guide in these situations.
16:20
Speaker 1: Is that something that bothers you personally? Is that something
16:24
Speaker 1: that you necessary like And I say this and I'm
16:26
Speaker 1: gonna say something here and you could come off. Colton
16:29
Speaker 1: made an announcement on national television yesterday. One of the
16:32
Speaker 1: first things I thought was, is he ready for this step?
16:36
Speaker 1: Like he might not. He is gonna be a face
16:38
Speaker 1: now for this community. You are as you self admitted,
16:43
Speaker 1: like the gay guide in these situations? Is that a
16:45
Speaker 1: burden that feels really heavy? Is that something you enjoy?
16:49
Speaker 1: Are you? Is he ready for? Like? Can you walk
16:51
Speaker 1: me through that? I mean, I don't find it a
16:53
Speaker 1: burden at all, you know. I I wish I would
16:56
Speaker 1: have had someone to be able to talk to when
16:58
Speaker 1: I first came out or right where I, you know,
17:00
Speaker 1: came out. Um, it would have helped explain a lot
17:03
Speaker 1: of things to me. It would have helped me say
17:05
Speaker 1: the right things the right way, um, because everyone is
17:09
Speaker 1: going to be judging you so much, you know, in
17:12
Speaker 1: this moment, right when you, you know, come out. I
17:14
Speaker 1: remember when i've and in my situation, and I don't
17:17
Speaker 1: know if this was his situation too, but um, you
17:20
Speaker 1: know I was out it like I I didn't have
17:22
Speaker 1: a choice, Like I had to come out or they
17:23
Speaker 1: were going to write the story. So I was kind
17:26
Speaker 1: of like really just pushed out of the closet. Um,
17:29
Speaker 1: So I didn't really have the time to find gay
17:32
Speaker 1: allies and and you know, you know, get to know
17:35
Speaker 1: the community before I came out. And so you know,
17:38
Speaker 1: you'd show up at HRC events, which I've done before,
17:41
Speaker 1: you know, as a quote unquote street guy. But this time,
17:44
Speaker 1: you know, I go on stage and I make a speech,
17:46
Speaker 1: and you know, two tables get up, flip me off
17:49
Speaker 1: and leave. You know. So it's just like, holy crap,
17:51
Speaker 1: that was my that was my introduction to the gay
17:54
Speaker 1: community that event, Like, well, this is going to be
17:57
Speaker 1: a very long road. What HRC just Human Rights Campaign. Yeah,
18:03
Speaker 1: it's a really great organization. Um. But you know, but
18:06
Speaker 1: I understand where they're coming from. I I get it. Um,
18:10
Speaker 1: it's not the way I would would do it and
18:12
Speaker 1: try to educate people. Um. But you know, there's a
18:16
Speaker 1: lot of hard feelings for especially the older gay community
18:21
Speaker 1: because of what they had to go through. I mean,
18:23
Speaker 1: the older generation of gays. They I mean they went
18:26
Speaker 1: through some they I mean, you know, majority of their
18:30
Speaker 1: friends died from the AIDS pandemic, and and they just
18:33
Speaker 1: saw a lot of death and and all the fighting
18:37
Speaker 1: they had to do just to get equal rights. I
18:39
Speaker 1: mean it was. It's a lot harder than it is today.
18:41
Speaker 1: And I think a lot of a lot of that
18:43
Speaker 1: generation looks at us young guns and especially even could
18:46
Speaker 1: the young young ones, um that they don't they don't
18:49
Speaker 1: understand where the community came from, and that they're not
18:52
Speaker 1: willing to understand it. But you know, but you have
18:55
Speaker 1: to give him a chance. Like he just came out,
18:57
Speaker 1: Let's see what he does with it. Were se when
19:01
Speaker 1: you came out and you were forced out? Um? What
19:04
Speaker 1: took you so long? Um? Many reasons. I mean the
19:10
Speaker 1: number one was in Sync. Uh. You know, as long
19:13
Speaker 1: as I was in the group, I didn't want to
19:16
Speaker 1: even talk about it, mention it, uh, you know, act
19:20
Speaker 1: on it, because you know, it was so ingrained in
19:23
Speaker 1: me that if anyone found out it was gay, in
19:25
Speaker 1: sync would be overdone. And now I've got, you know,
19:29
Speaker 1: my four best friends, you know, careers in my hands
19:32
Speaker 1: that I just completely just trashed. Um. So I mean
19:36
Speaker 1: that that was the number one. I just didn't want
19:38
Speaker 1: to hurt you know, my my group. Um uh. And
19:43
Speaker 1: then you know the other the the next you know, Um,
19:47
Speaker 1: the problem I had was being where I'm from in Mississippi,
19:51
Speaker 1: you know, your you grow up. You know, I grew
19:53
Speaker 1: up in the church, going to church three times a week,
19:55
Speaker 1: and you know, you're taught that gay people are going
19:58
Speaker 1: to hell and they're and their pedophiles, and it's just
20:01
Speaker 1: you have such a bad feeling about gay people, um,
20:06
Speaker 1: you know, and when that's instilled in you at such
20:07
Speaker 1: a young age, you you think that's the truth. I mean,
20:11
Speaker 1: why wouldn't it be the truth? You're You're the adults
20:13
Speaker 1: were telling you this, your preachers telling you this, so
20:16
Speaker 1: they're not lying to me, you know. Um. So growing
20:19
Speaker 1: up in an environment like that really does keep you
20:23
Speaker 1: in the closet because you just you don't know what
20:27
Speaker 1: hate you're going you're going to receive. When you did
20:30
Speaker 1: come out, like, did you even feel any of the
20:32
Speaker 1: hate that you expected to receive? It was way less
20:37
Speaker 1: than I thought. I mean, of course I saw, you know,
20:39
Speaker 1: the biggots go after me. Uh. And I mean even today,
20:43
Speaker 1: I mean, gosh, I'll go on social media and I
20:45
Speaker 1: you know, I still get called fat like every day
20:47
Speaker 1: of my life, so that's just part of it. But
20:50
Speaker 1: I also got called fat when I was in in
20:51
Speaker 1: sync the whole time too, So it's something that I've
20:53
Speaker 1: been used to of just everyone assuming I'm gay, right, Um,
20:58
Speaker 1: But I was very surprised because when I came out,
21:01
Speaker 1: it was it was a different time. It really was.
21:03
Speaker 1: It was, yeah, and you know, being gay was still
21:07
Speaker 1: just a crazy hard thing to be and especially in entertainment,
21:12
Speaker 1: like no one, no one could be gay and on radio,
21:15
Speaker 1: you know, no one could have their own show or
21:17
Speaker 1: on film you know when you're gay. Um, so yeah,
21:21
Speaker 1: I mean, it's it was. It was a crazy time.
21:23
Speaker 1: And I thought that, wow, everyone is going to hate me.
21:27
Speaker 1: Everyone's gonna hate and sink, everyone's gonna make fun of
21:30
Speaker 1: me and be like, of course the boy bands gay.
21:32
Speaker 1: Oh let's tell me something we didn't know, like just
21:34
Speaker 1: really just take the negative with it. But I mean,
21:37
Speaker 1: I would say, was so positive. And it was the
21:40
Speaker 1: first time I saw, you know, in my lifetime. It
21:44
Speaker 1: was the first time I saw such a crazy positive
21:46
Speaker 1: reaction to someone coming out because we all saw what
21:49
Speaker 1: happened to Ellen and other people like her. Um, and
21:53
Speaker 1: you know, watching the story of someone like Ellen keeps
21:56
Speaker 1: people in the closet even more. They're like, crap, So
21:58
Speaker 1: you told you that's what happens become out, what what.
22:02
Speaker 1: I'm just interested because you know Colton obviously mentioned it.
22:07
Speaker 1: You know, he grew up uh in a Catholic comb Um.
22:11
Speaker 1: You know, the church played a big role and uh
22:15
Speaker 1: and I will go to detail. I was able to
22:16
Speaker 1: talk to him a little bit about this yesterday. UM.
22:19
Speaker 1: This is something that hurts my soul in the deepest ways.
22:24
Speaker 1: UM that he would feel, you know, that he couldn't
22:27
Speaker 1: be his truest, most authentic self because of um the church.
22:32
Speaker 1: Where does your faith lie today? Um? And have you
22:36
Speaker 1: found that community within you know, the faith world that
22:42
Speaker 1: does support you. Yeah. You know, my my faith you know,
22:46
Speaker 1: evolves a lot um, you know, in my life. Now,
22:50
Speaker 1: I'm I wouldn't say that. I mean, I I don't
22:52
Speaker 1: believe in organized religion. To me, I think, I mean
22:56
Speaker 1: I used to, but in recent years I've realized that
22:59
Speaker 1: organized religion is has just been used for hate and
23:04
Speaker 1: it's basically organized hate. And I just think that's horrible.
23:07
Speaker 1: And you saw that in the last four years, you know,
23:10
Speaker 1: when we had you know, Trump in office, and you
23:13
Speaker 1: know a lot of the evangelical Christians were in control
23:17
Speaker 1: of this country for four years, and we saw the
23:20
Speaker 1: hatred come out in the last four years. Um, And
23:24
Speaker 1: it's just you know, I think that's horrible. You know,
23:27
Speaker 1: when I grew up in church, it was all about
23:29
Speaker 1: you know, giving back to others and loving people. And
23:32
Speaker 1: it was really I grew up, you know, just the
23:35
Speaker 1: teachings of Jesus Christ, which to me today Jesus Christ
23:39
Speaker 1: has the best message. I mean, it's the same thing
23:42
Speaker 1: with Buddha. Also, you know Jesus didn't you know, Jesus
23:45
Speaker 1: one a Christian, he was Jewish, but his message was
23:49
Speaker 1: exactly what I like to to, you know, model my
23:54
Speaker 1: morals after, um. Because everything that has been written about
23:58
Speaker 1: what he has said or done and has been all
24:01
Speaker 1: about love and acceptance and exactly what how I believe
24:05
Speaker 1: in the world. Um. And then to see my same
24:09
Speaker 1: churches that taught me that use those words to turn
24:13
Speaker 1: them into hating me. Um, I just saw the evilness
24:17
Speaker 1: of it. I saw the corruption. And so no, I don't.
24:20
Speaker 1: I don't believe in organized religion as much as as
24:25
Speaker 1: I did. I mean, I'm sure there's some great churches
24:27
Speaker 1: out there. There's some great churches in l a that
24:29
Speaker 1: are very accepted of gay people. And I have lots
24:32
Speaker 1: of gay Christian friends Um, but I can never be
24:36
Speaker 1: a part of that anymore, just because it's it's just
24:40
Speaker 1: gotten too corrupt. Thanks for sharing them. Colton talked about
24:45
Speaker 1: like praying to God that he wouldn't be gay, and
24:48
Speaker 1: like praying that he He said when he got the
24:51
Speaker 1: bachelor role that he thanked God for making him straight
24:56
Speaker 1: and allowing him to find his wife and have kids.
25:00
Speaker 1: Did you go through a phase like this? Everyone I know? Did?
25:04
Speaker 1: I mean since I probably was eight years old. I
25:08
Speaker 1: prayed every night that I would wake up straight every
25:12
Speaker 1: single night for years, which really messes with a little
25:17
Speaker 1: kid's mind. I mean, no little kids should have to,
25:21
Speaker 1: you know, go through that. Um, so your whole life,
25:24
Speaker 1: you're fooling yourself into thinking, no, I you know, I
25:27
Speaker 1: just if I don't act on it's fine. I'll be
25:29
Speaker 1: able to marry a girl, We'll have a family. So
25:31
Speaker 1: I totally can relate to why Colton felt great. You
25:34
Speaker 1: know this was God gave me this gift to being
25:36
Speaker 1: a bachelor. This means you know that I can be straight,
25:41
Speaker 1: you know, um, and how I'll be able to beat
25:43
Speaker 1: a girl and have family. And as long as it
25:45
Speaker 1: don't act on this you know, gay feelings, Um, it's
25:48
Speaker 1: fine because that's what the church teaches also, is you know,
25:51
Speaker 1: it's fine being gay. I mean being gay is acceptable. Great,
25:55
Speaker 1: you just can't act on it because everyone since just
25:58
Speaker 1: don't act on it and ask for forgiveness. Did you
26:01
Speaker 1: ever feel like that within sync, You're like, oh, I
26:03
Speaker 1: was given all these girls to choose from. Yes, it
26:07
Speaker 1: was God's little joke to put me in a group
26:10
Speaker 1: with female audience. I mean it kept me safe, that's
26:14
Speaker 1: sure for sure. But um, but yeah, I mean it's
26:18
Speaker 1: it was funny that that was that was the path
26:21
Speaker 1: that my life went. But I mean it was there
26:25
Speaker 1: was a reason that had happened, and hopefully, you know,
26:28
Speaker 1: I'm doing what I'm supposed to be doing on this
26:29
Speaker 1: planet because of it. You dated women to like Danielle Fischel.
26:34
Speaker 1: It was like kind of you know, it was like
26:36
Speaker 1: a fling, right, you took her to prom and stuff.
26:38
Speaker 1: But Danielle we dated for like two years. Oh my goodness. Yeah,
26:43
Speaker 1: she was my longtime girlfriend. Now. I remember being so
26:46
Speaker 1: jealous of her. I was like, not only is she depended,
26:49
Speaker 1: but she's dating lands I know. And then my thing,
26:52
Speaker 1: it was like, look, if I can't, if I can't
26:55
Speaker 1: you know, be attracted to Danielle or you know, fall
26:58
Speaker 1: in love with her that the way because I thought
27:00
Speaker 1: I was in love, but I was also a teenager,
27:02
Speaker 1: so I felt you know, I thought that's what love was.
27:05
Speaker 1: But of course once I felt true love, like, oh,
27:09
Speaker 1: that's that's what that feeling is. But I knew if
27:12
Speaker 1: I couldn't find that true love with Danielle, there's no
27:16
Speaker 1: way I could find it with any other girls. She
27:18
Speaker 1: was just the perfect, perfect person. Well, Lens, I know
27:23
Speaker 1: you're you're really busy and and we really appreciate you
27:26
Speaker 1: coming on. We just have I mean, I personally have
27:29
Speaker 1: a few more questions for you. UM One is something
27:32
Speaker 1: you touched on um as you kind of started this out,
27:35
Speaker 1: you know there is in the last day, it's been
27:38
Speaker 1: a mix of emotions for a lot of the fans
27:41
Speaker 1: of The Bachelor, and this isn't about them, but it
27:44
Speaker 1: is the things that Colton is hearing. Right. You have
27:47
Speaker 1: a few months ago, you have a restraining order placed
27:50
Speaker 1: on him by Cassie uh following their breakup. And then
27:54
Speaker 1: the news got dropped yesterday and I believe TMZ was
27:58
Speaker 1: the ones to release it, saying that there is a
28:00
Speaker 1: Netflix documentary currently being filmed that will come out soon
28:03
Speaker 1: about this journey for Colton, and the response you know,
28:07
Speaker 1: is mixed for him. You know, you have the celebration
28:09
Speaker 1: of him having the courage to come out, and then
28:11
Speaker 1: you have the following of the people saying, hey, Colton,
28:17
Speaker 1: we support that, but you're monetizing this. This feels weird
28:21
Speaker 1: to us. What if you could speak into that, maybe
28:26
Speaker 1: trying to understand his perspective, maybe assuming a few things.
28:30
Speaker 1: Is it wrong to be doing a documentary? Does it
28:33
Speaker 1: feel um like he is monetizing a situation that is
28:37
Speaker 1: very personal? And then how do you walk through the
28:39
Speaker 1: criticism while at the same time celebrating the fact that
28:43
Speaker 1: you're starting this whole new journey in life. Yeah, well,
28:46
Speaker 1: then of course he's monetizing you know, the situation. But
28:49
Speaker 1: I don't. I don't think Coulton, you know, came up
28:52
Speaker 1: with this plan, was like, all right, let's call Netflix
28:55
Speaker 1: and see if you know I'm gonna come out. You know,
28:58
Speaker 1: him coming out was his only you know thing that's
29:01
Speaker 1: on his mind right now. But when people come to you,
29:04
Speaker 1: your manager or whatever and they say, look, you know,
29:07
Speaker 1: we know you're coming out. We would love to document
29:11
Speaker 1: this because it would help everyone and to be for
29:13
Speaker 1: the greater good. Like I was saying before, you know,
29:15
Speaker 1: to see just any kind of representation of a gay
29:18
Speaker 1: person on television is good. Um. I think the community,
29:22
Speaker 1: you know, looks at this as you know, an opportunistic
29:26
Speaker 1: grab of money. Um. But you know they're you know,
29:29
Speaker 1: they're gonna they're gonna think that because also the community
29:32
Speaker 1: is upset with great like another you know, um, straight adjacent,
29:39
Speaker 1: buff white guy. Uh, you know, we're gonna we're gonna
29:42
Speaker 1: watch his coming out story. What about like, you know,
29:45
Speaker 1: the black community, or anyone of color, or any or
29:47
Speaker 1: feminine or you know, all the other flavors of the rainbow. Um,
29:51
Speaker 1: I think they're like, well, that doesn't really represent you know,
29:54
Speaker 1: our our real community. You know, it's it's a pretty
29:57
Speaker 1: thing to look at, but it's not you know, the
30:00
Speaker 1: reality of the community leads uh you Okay, So when
30:06
Speaker 1: you came out, had you had a relationship with a
30:11
Speaker 1: man before, because Colton admitted yesterday that he has yet
30:16
Speaker 1: to have an emotional relationship with a man. Yeah, uh yeah,
30:20
Speaker 1: we'll see how that story progressive might just be a
30:23
Speaker 1: little too embarrassed to admit it. Right now. Um, but no,
30:27
Speaker 1: I uh I when I came out, I was on
30:30
Speaker 1: boyfriend number three, so I had already been out to
30:33
Speaker 1: my friends obviously in three relationships. UM, so my core
30:38
Speaker 1: people knew. I just didn't think people cared, um until
30:42
Speaker 1: years later, you know, when the magazine started calling sand Look,
30:46
Speaker 1: we know you're gay. We're writing the story with or
30:48
Speaker 1: without you. What do you want to do? So then
30:51
Speaker 1: that's when I decided, Okay, well then I need to publicly,
30:53
Speaker 1: I guess announced that I'm gay. Man, that's gotta be.
30:58
Speaker 1: It's gonna be a whirlwind. Um. If Colton listens to this,
31:01
Speaker 1: who knows if you will or not. Um, but if
31:03
Speaker 1: anybody out there is is listening to this in a
31:06
Speaker 1: similar situation, um, as as you were in and as
31:10
Speaker 1: Colton has just turned into, what would your advice be
31:14
Speaker 1: as you navigate this journey? Yeah, UM, listen. That's all
31:19
Speaker 1: you need to do right now is just listen to
31:21
Speaker 1: the community, Listen to everyone around you. You know, educate yourself, um,
31:28
Speaker 1: and then you know you'll naturally find where you belong
31:31
Speaker 1: in this in this community. But the best thing to
31:34
Speaker 1: do right now is you know, sit back, listen and learn.
31:40
Speaker 1: Well Lance, Thank you so much for joining us. You're
31:43
Speaker 1: the greatest. You know how I feel about you. Well,
31:46
Speaker 1: I love you, guys. Thanks a lot. I know hey,
31:51
Speaker 1: you know what I know. You self admitted it. You're
31:53
Speaker 1: the gay guide in these situations and you've been a
31:55
Speaker 1: good guide for us. Thanks for coming on, Thanks for
31:57
Speaker 1: giving up your time. Have a great lunch today, enjoy
32:01
Speaker 1: it and we hope to see you soon. Al Right,
32:03
Speaker 1: Guncle Lance is here to deliver guys. All right, well, Ashley,
32:13
Speaker 1: you know we're walking into your obviously friends with Lands.
32:16
Speaker 1: I've been able to be around Lands. Um. This is
32:21
Speaker 1: this is a shocking turn of events in Bachelor Nation.
32:25
Speaker 1: This is a big story for a lot of reasons.
32:27
Speaker 1: This is the first time that a bachelor has came out,
32:31
Speaker 1: um as gay. And now I think, as Lances said,
32:37
Speaker 1: my job is somebody that is self admittedly very ignorant
32:39
Speaker 1: in these situations. I have not um been able to
32:44
Speaker 1: be surrounded in my life by a lot of people
32:46
Speaker 1: who have came out. And it's I think maybe it
32:50
Speaker 1: is that we all need to listen, that we all
32:52
Speaker 1: need to learn, that we all need to uh through
32:55
Speaker 1: all these stages of the last year. Is just continue
32:57
Speaker 1: to stay open to what is going on around us,
32:59
Speaker 1: what are people saying and where are people hurting. We
33:02
Speaker 1: have a few more headlines that I think we could
33:04
Speaker 1: dive into a little bit um when we come back
33:08
Speaker 1: with The Almost Famous Podcast. We'll finish with headlines on
33:11
Speaker 1: this very special episode of The Almost Famous Podcast. A
33:26
Speaker 1: few more headlines to cover that we want to speak about.
33:29
Speaker 1: Ashley brought it up to Lance Uh during our time
33:32
Speaker 1: with Lance Bass, and we do appreciate him coming on,
33:35
Speaker 1: but Uh to clarify and dig in a bit to
33:39
Speaker 1: what actually was talking about. The headline reads this, Colton
33:41
Speaker 1: Underwood never allowed himself to have an emotional connection with
33:45
Speaker 1: a man. I want that more than anything. This according
33:48
Speaker 1: to US Weekly m He says he hasn't found a
33:51
Speaker 1: spark with a male partner yet he's never allowed himself to.
33:54
Speaker 1: He said, it's never been sort of in my cards
33:57
Speaker 1: to let myself get there, and I want more than
34:00
Speaker 1: anything to get there. He says that he's looking for
34:03
Speaker 1: somebody who can push him and challenge him in all
34:06
Speaker 1: great ways. He says he's ran from himself for a
34:09
Speaker 1: long time. He said he hated himself for a long time,
34:12
Speaker 1: and this is where he is now. In addition to that,
34:18
Speaker 1: we talked about this upcoming Netflix series that will be
34:21
Speaker 1: coming out pretty soon. This is confirmed. Now there is
34:24
Speaker 1: a Netflix series that is being filmed. Um. This was
34:28
Speaker 1: confirmed by TMZ and the headline reads this Cold Underwood
34:31
Speaker 1: reality TV star again Netflix series about coming out this
34:35
Speaker 1: again according to TMZ. So the cameras have apparently been
34:39
Speaker 1: following him throughout this week. Netflix has declined to comment
34:44
Speaker 1: on the project though, so it's not confirmed. And this
34:46
Speaker 1: is according to Variety. This is like the ultimate source
34:50
Speaker 1: for entertainment news. Um. They say from what the rumors
34:55
Speaker 1: are is that the Olympian gust Kenworthy will appear in
35:01
Speaker 1: the series, acting as a guide of sorts for for
35:04
Speaker 1: Coldness he goes through this journey. No word on when
35:08
Speaker 1: the series will launch, and again no real official announcement
35:11
Speaker 1: of it either. But it's very very much rumored. So
35:15
Speaker 1: I guess I miss book. It's not fully confirmed, but
35:18
Speaker 1: it's very much rumored. It's probably the best way to
35:20
Speaker 1: say it. Yes, very like strongly rumored to the point
35:24
Speaker 1: where like there's no way it's not happening. Okay, fair enough, Well, Ashley, Oh,
35:29
Speaker 1: I just got a text from Lance. He said, I
35:32
Speaker 1: think it's finally time for the gay Bachelor spinoff and
35:36
Speaker 1: I'll take the host role. Didn't he didn't Lance host
35:42
Speaker 1: a show that was attempting to do like a gay Bachelor.
35:46
Speaker 1: He did. It was on a cable network. I feel
35:49
Speaker 1: like it was like TBS or something. But it's interesting
35:53
Speaker 1: that that comes up now because you remember the headline
35:55
Speaker 1: the other day. Rob Mills was saying that they're having
35:58
Speaker 1: some deal with Hulu and they're looking for more Bachelor spinoffs.
36:02
Speaker 1: This could be the time. Interesting, it's interesting. Well, Uh,
36:07
Speaker 1: hey Ashley, Uh, we jumped on here today to cover
36:11
Speaker 1: this story. Uh, to cover the announcement yesterday. UM. Glad
36:15
Speaker 1: we could give up the time. Really thankful for Lane's
36:17
Speaker 1: bass to help jump on here and be um our
36:21
Speaker 1: GIY guide as he uh told told us it is
36:26
Speaker 1: an episode. We'll we'll continue to talk about this story.
36:28
Speaker 1: I'm sure this is not going away. We'll continue to
36:31
Speaker 1: cover everything surrounding this story in the next couple of
36:34
Speaker 1: weeks and months. Um. But this was in a podcast.
36:40
Speaker 1: UH pretty focused on Colton Underwoods announcement yesterday on Good
36:44
Speaker 1: Morning America with Robin Roberts as he officially announces that
36:48
Speaker 1: he is gay, and he is starting this new chapter
36:51
Speaker 1: of his life with that I've been Been, I've Been, Ashley.
36:56
Speaker 1: Why did that sound weird? But it's fine? Followed the
37:01
Speaker 1: Benn and Ashley I Almost Famous podcast on iHeart Radio
37:05
Speaker 1: or subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts.