Tom Sandoval is regretting comparing himself to George Floyd in a New York Times article.
“I wanted to again apologize for the comments I made in the New York Times article,” Sandoval said before an episode of his podcast “Everybody Loves Tom” on Thursday. “I stupidly was trying to make a comparison of the absurd amount of national media my affair received, and the comparison I made was stupid and ignorant and I’m really embarrassed, and I’m really, really sorry.”
Sandoval has been in the news for nearly a year because he had a months-long affair with his “Vanderpump Rules” castmate, Rachel Leviss, who happened to be the best friend of his now-ex-girlfriend Ariana Madix.
In a Feb. 20 New York Times article, Sandoval, the star of Bravo’s “Vanderpump Rules,” was asked why the cheating scandal had gained so much attention. He said: “I’m not a pop-culture historian really,” he said, “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’s comments received intense backlash considering Floyd, a Black man, became headline news after a white police officer knelt on his neck and murdered him on-camera.
Shortly after the article was published, Sandoval apologized the first time, saying “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. I’m incredibly sorry and embarrassed.”