Tom Sandoval compares his situation to George Floyd for some reason

Vanderpump Rules star Tom Sandoval is the subject of a new New York Times profile entitled “How Tom Sandoval Became the Most Hated Man in America,” and clearly he took that title as a challenge. In trying to describe the unprecedented impact of “Scandoval”—the widely accepted term to describe his affair with co-star Raquel Leviss behind the back of his girlfriend Ariana Madix—the reality star stumbled into an extraordinarily insensitive comparison that really suits his role as a tabloid villain.

Asked about the outsized attention on the juicy VPR storyline, Sandoval mused, “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?”

Well, no, Tom, no one really thinks a reality show cheating scandal is the same as the murder of a Black man at the hands of police that subsequently sparked massive social and cultural upheaval, not even a little bit! Writer Irina Aleksander generously interpreted his words as Sandoval reflecting on becoming “the symbolic center of a nationwide discussion and a major news story” while accidentally revealing “just how much the experience had made him lose perspective.” Rylie, a member of Sandoval’s publicity team with “a background in crisis PR,” told Aleksander that “Sometimes he says too much, and the following day forgets what he says.”

Sandoval’s ill-advised George Floyd comparison actually derailed the profile—Bravo subsequently got shy of letting Aleksander shadow Sandoval and didn’t allow her back in his presence until two weeks later, when a Bravo publicist and NBCUniversal executive were present. But gaffes like this are a result of the way reality stars are trained to say the most incendiary things when the cameras are rolling: “You lose track of what a normal conversation would be like with people that aren’t on the show,” Sandoval admitted elsewhere in the profile. That’s probably why he also tossed out the observation, “I feel like I got more hate than Danny Masterson, and he’s a convicted rapist.”

These kinds of comments would be bad enough, but especially so when “Scandoval” has brought increased attention to the Vanderpump universe. Even if everyone has been able to cash in on it except Sandoval himself (to hear him tell it) he retains a somewhat positive attitude. “The scandal has made the show so big, it’s kind of cool and crazy,” he told the NYT. “Even though it’s negative and at my expense.”

[Update February 20 6:45 PM]: Sandoval issued a statement (via The Hollywood Reporter) to apologize, 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.”