Colton Underwood opens about his upcoming series, 'Coming Out Colton'. Image Source: Variety
Former professional football player and American reality television personality, Colton Underwood became one of the most popular and loved contestants on The Bachelorette season 14 and was later announced as the lead of The Bachelor season 23. Colton Underwood is the first lead to come out as gay in April in the history of the Bachelor franchise.
Colton Underwood recently took to his social media to explain the significance of the image used for his upcoming Netflix series, ‘Coming Out Colton’ which is slated to stream on December 3rd, 2021. The former football player shared, "This image was captured moments after I came out to my dad, which was one of the most meaningful parts of my coming out journey. I'm looking forward to sharing more of my story with you including the lessons I've been learning along the way. Coming Out Colton premieres on Netflix, December 3rd."
‘Coming Out Colton', is an unscripted six-episode series that will walk the audience through Colton Underwood’s, coming out story. The cameras will follow the former football player as he reveals his sexual identity to his friends and family, and the audience will witness Colton addressing the controversy surrounding his coming out to the world.
Colton Underwood came out as gay to the world in April during an interview with ‘Good Morning America' with Robin Roberts. GLAAD, The Trevor Project, and many within the LGBTQ community helmed a moment of the former footballers coming out but backlash soon followed. During the pre-taped interview, he said, "I've ran from myself for a long time. I've hated myself for a long time. And I'm gay. And I came to terms with that earlier this year and have been processing it. And the next step in all of this was sort of letting people know. I'm still nervous, but yeah. It's been a journey for sure. I'm emotional but in such a good, happy, positive way. I'm the happiest and healthiest I've ever been in my life, and that means the world to me."
When it was announced that Netflix is going to stream Colton Underwood’s ‘Coming Out Colton’, many took the decision as an issue as a white cisgender man getting a platform to showcase their real selves in front of the world but at the same time, the other less represented groups are not allowed to come out and blamed Colton for monetizing his coming out journey.
In 2020, it was reported that Colton Underwood was accused of stalking and placing a tracking device on his ex-girlfriend Cassie Randolph whom he met on ‘The Bachelor’. Cassie filed a restraining order against him and was later dismissed and asked police to drop the investigation. And when he came out as gay, the allegations resurfaced online with Colton Underwood using his coming out a moment to evade accountability for the legal matters.
In his cover story for Variety in May 2021, Colton Underwood shared, "I never want people to think that I’m coming out to change the narrative, or to brush over and not take responsibility for my actions, and now that I have this gay life that I don’t have to address my past as a straight man. Controlling situations to try to grasp at any part of the straight fantasy that I was trying to live out was so wrong." The American television personality also shared about the lives he hopes to touch with his challenges and experiences to which he quoted, "I had never seen a football player that had made it to the NFL that had been gay, growing up Catholic. I’ve had hundreds of gay Christian men and women who are confused in their walk with Jesus say, ‘I felt closer to God when I came out.’"
Colton Underwood also acknowledged that he is trying to adjust to his new life as an openly gay man and revealed that during his rock bottom and spiral, he was getting blackmailed and nobody knew that he was being blackmailed.
During his cover story with Variety, Colton Underwood mentioned that when his relationship with Cassie Randolph ended, he was in a dark place because he knew that his last relationship as a straight man is now over, and he had to face the reality. The former footballer apologized for his behavior towards Cassie Randolph and mentioned, "It’s not who I am as a human being, and it’s not how I carry myself. If there was anything I could do to take more ownership, I would. But also, out of respect to her, I don’t want to get into the details. I want this interview to be the last time I address her, because it’s not fair for her to have her name in articles every time I talk. I’m sorry, and I want her to know that I hope she has the best, most beautiful life."
The former football player shared with Variety that while growing up in sport she was taught that the word ‘gay’ is bad and football players are not gay but by the time he realized that he was gay, he did not want to it because he believed that it was easy to mask behind football, hunting, and fishing because these are the things that the society has labeled as ‘masculine and he wanted to be that.
Colton Underwood mentioned that his purpose of pitching the series and putting it out for the public is solely to share a multitude of LGBTQ stories and not just only him. Olympian and Colton's friend Gus Kenworthy is all set to appear in 'Coming out Colton' and the producers of the show have made sure not to keep the focus of the series on white privileged gay men. Talking about Gus Kenworthy, Colton shared, "He’s been somebody that I’ve not only learned so much from, but he’s held me accountable, and he’s allowed me to see the privilege of being a straight-presenting gay, white man. He pointed out how my path has been, compared to other people."
The editor-in-chief of Pride, a pop culture and entertainment website for LGBTQ millennials Raffy Ermac said that Colton Underwood’s coming out in public was a brave decision but at the same time also said that the audience shouldn’t be glorifying someone who has the history of allegedly stalking a woman. 35,000people signed a petition on Change.org so far, to pressure the streaming channel Netflix to cancel the upcoming Colton Underwood series because of those allegations.
With all the controversies and pressure about canceling the series, Netflix is sticking to its decision to release the series and is slated to release on Netflix on December 3, 2021. Vice president of unscripted and documentary series at Netflix Brandon Riegg said, "One person’s experience will not fill the void with queer stories on TV. We have to do better as an industry to highlight more kinds of lives and love. That said, we hope the show will help challenge outdated notions of what kind of stories can or should be at the center of entertainment."
Lastly, Colton Underwood added that his father is proud to say that he is a conservative Republican, and he is proud to say that he has a gay son. Colton quoted, "I think it’s important for America to hear that and see that. Right now, the media makes it seem like there is no middle ground."
