AUDIO The Bachelor Juan Pablo says gay men are “more pervert” and not a good example for kids

It seems the ACLU won’t be handing a rose to The Bachelor‘s Juan Pablo Galavis any time soon! The 32-year-old former Venezuelan soccer player and current star of ABC’s popular romance reality series was in attendance at the network’s TCA presentation last night in Pasadena where he spoke with The TV Page’s Sean Daly about the possibility of having a gay or bisexual Bachelor — something Juan Pablo thinks is a really bad idea.

Here’s the transcript of the conversation, which is quickly making headlines all over the web. (I’ve bolded the most quoted parts.)

SEAN DALY: Do you think it would be a good idea at some point to have a gay or bisexual Bachelor?

JUAN PABLO GALAVIS: No.

SEAN: Why not?

JUAN PABLO: Just because — I respect them, but honestly, I don’t think it’s a good example for kids to watch that on TV. It’s hard. It’s hard — it’s a very thin line, you know? I respect people from — well, Peter, right there, he’s my boy right there. He spends every day with me, and he has his partner, and I respect that 100%. But obviously, people have their husband and wife and that is how we are brought up. Now there are fathers having kids and all that, and it’s hard for me to understand that, too, in the sense of a household having peoples — two parents sleep in the same bed and the kid going in to bed — it’s confusing in a sense, but I respect them because they want to have kids. They want to be parents. So, it’s a scale. Where do you put it on the scale? Where’s the thin line to cross or not?

SEAN: Right.

JUAN PABLO: You know, you have to respect everybody’s desires, opinions and way of living, but it will be too hard for TV.

SEAN: Probably. Probably be too much —

JUAN PABLO: It’s too much.

SEAN: — too much backlash probably.

JUAN PABLO: Too much. And there’s this thing about gay that seems to me, and I don’t know if I’m mistaken or not — well, I met great — I have a lot of friends like that, but they’re more pervert in a sense, and to me the show would be too strong, too hard to watch on TV.

SEAN: Well, the show’s a little over-the-top as it is.

JUAN PABLO: Exactly. Exactly. Well, you’re right about that.

The interview has already led to Juan Pablo Galavis’ Wikipedia entry being altered, and it now begins with “Juan Pablo Galavis Guinand (born August 5, 1961) is an American-born Venezuelan homophobic former professional football midfielder/forward…” (I’m guessing his birthday was changed in reference to the comments as well.) Here’s a screen cap:

There has been no official reaction from ABC about Juan Pablo’s statements.

UPDATE – Juan Pablo issued an apology on his Facebook page. Here it is in its entirety:

People,

I want to apologize to all the people I may have offended because of my comments on having a Gay or Bisexual Bachelor. The comment was taken out of context. If you listen to the entire interview, there’s nothing but respect for Gay people and their families. I have many gay friends and one of my closest friends who’s like a brother has been a constant in my life especially during the past 5 months. The word pervert was not what I meant to say and I am very sorry about it. Everyone knows English is my second language and my vocabulary is not as broad as it is in Spanish and, because of this, sometimes I use the wrong words to express myself. What I meant to say was that gay people are more affectionate and intense and for a segment of the TV audience this would be too racy to accept. The show is very racy as it is and I don’t let my 5 year old daughter watch it. Once again, I’m sorry for how my words were taken. I would never disrespect anyone.

Sinceramente,

Juan Pablo Galavis.