Vanderpump Rules star Tom Sandoval, who made headlines last year for cheating on his longtime girlfriend and fellow costar Ariana Madix, likened his moment in pop culture history to George Floyd's murder and the O.J. Simpson case.
In a new New York Times profile, Sandoval made the comparison when asked why he thinks his cheating scandal, widely known as "Scandoval," garnered national attention.
"I’m not a pop-culture historian really but I witnessed the O.J. Simpson thing and George Floyd and all these big things, which is really weird to compare this to that, I think, but do you think in a weird way it’s a little bit the same?" Sandoval told the New York Times.
The writer of the NYT profile appeared to give Sandoval grace for his comparison.
"I think I knew what he meant. He was trying to express the oddity of becoming the symbolic center of a nationwide discussion and a major news story; what he communicated instead was something more honest, which is just how much the experience had made him lose perspective," the writer said.
Sandoval's comments come after the reality TV star cheated on Madix, who he recently bought a house with and dated for nearly a decade, with one of the couple's close friends and former Vanderpump Rules co-star Raquel Leviss. Sandoval has continued to receive widespread backlash for the affair as the show kicks off its 11th season.
In the NYT profile, Sandoval also likened himself to disgraced "That 70's Show" star Danny Masterson.
"I feel like I got more hate than Danny Masterson, and he’s a convicted rapist," he said.
On Tuesday (February 20), Sandoval issued an apology in the wake of backlash he received for his comments.
“My intentions behind the comments I made in New York Times Magazine were to explain the level of national media attention my affair received. The comparison was inappropriate and ignorant,” Sandoval wrote on Instagram. “I’m incredibly sorry and embarrassed.”
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