If the news of Colton Underwood getting his very own Netflix reality series where Olympic freeskier Gus Kenworthy acts as his "guide to the gay world" made your eyes roll to the back of your head, trust us, you aren't alone. In fact, there's already a petition to get the show from even being made...
In case you missed it, 29-year-old Bachelor star and former football player Colton Underwood had a very public coming out last week after denying his sexuality when asked by various media outlets over the past few years.
Shortly after coming out as gay (and we literally mean just a few hours later), Variety was reporting that Underwood was already set to film his very own reality show for popular streaming platform Netflix, described as "an unscripted series with multiple episodes, focusing on Colton living his life publicly as a gay man," with Kenworthy appearing in the show "acting as a guide, of sorts, for Underwood."
The decision by Netflix to give Colton his very own reality show 0.002 seconds after his public coming out drew ire from many, and for good reason.
Besides the obvious privilege of a conventionally attractive, cis, white, male celebrity getting his own show after literally just coming out of the closet, last year Underwood's Bachelor co-star and ex-girlfriend Cassie Randolph filed a restraining order against him. In her suit, Randolph said Underwood stalked her, put a tracking device on her car, and sent her frightening text messages. Although Randolph dropped the restraining order last November, many were scratching their heads and left wondering why someone with a manipulative and abusive past was going to be getting a huge public platform via Netflix — and now, an online petition has been created to stop the whole series from happening.
"It was announced that Colton Underwood would be the focus of a Netflix documentary about being an out gay man," the description of the anonymously-created "Cancel Colton Underwood’s Netflix Documentary" petition on Change.org reads. "On Good Morning America, he came out as gay, and held an interview regarding his sexuality."
It continues:
"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."
At the time of reporting, the petition has over 21,200+ signatures of a 25,000+ signature goal, and after scrolling through social media and seeing the current sentiment, it's not hard to understand why so many people don't want Underwood to get his own Netflix show.
Neither Underwood nor Netflix have yet to comment on this current backlash.
