In an April 2021 Good Morning America interview with Robin Roberts, Colton Underwood — generally known as the “virgin Bachelor” throughout his time on the ABC actuality TV franchise, wherein 30 ladies competed for his affections — revealed that he’s homosexual.
“I got here to phrases with that earlier this yr, and I have been processing it,” the 29-year-old instructed Roberts. “The subsequent step in all of this was, form of, letting individuals know.”
The brand new Netflix present Coming Out Colton paperwork exactly that. Within the six-episode collection, a digital camera crew movies Underwood as he confides in his dad and mom, brother, coaches, teammates and mates about his sexuality.
However allegations of harassment and stalking have adopted Underwood within the wake of his breakup with girlfriend Cassie Randolph.
And the present’s format — wherein Underwood comes out to his family members for the primary time, full with nerve-wracking cliffhangers — has prompted questions on its worth to the LGBTQ group.
Ex-girlfriend filed restraining order
For Underwood, rising up in small-town Illinois as a soccer star made it tough to think about something past conventional notions of masculinity. Homophobic jokes and slurs had been enabled by his coaches within the locker room, he mentioned.
In Coming Out Colton, that conservative upbringing provides to the aspect of shock: If an episode ends with Underwood having simply instructed a beloved one about his sexuality, the viewer has to look at the following episode to learn the way they react, figuring out that it may not be a beneficial response.
Whereas gimmicks are a given a part of any actuality TV present, monetizing one’s id is one thing that a number of public figures from marginalized identities must wrestle with, mentioned Mel Woods, a Vancouver-based tradition author and editor at Xtra Journal.
“We regularly must grapple with this concept of claiming, like, ‘I need to be seen and I need to put myself and my id ahead. However I additionally am earning profits off who I’m at my very core,’” Woods mentioned.
However Underwood’s story has one other dimension to it that has left a nasty style within the mouths of Bachelor followers. In September 2020, Randolph — the profitable contestant on Underwood’s season of The Bachelor in 2019 — filed a restraining order in opposition to him, alleging harassment and stalking. The claims included an incident wherein Underwood allegedly put in a monitoring machine on Randolph’s automobile. She dropped the restraining order two months later.
WATCH | Colton Underwood stars in Coming Out Colton on Netflix:
Whereas actuality tv could make interpersonal relationships difficult and messy, “simply since you come out as queer does not exonerate you for all of that,” Woods mentioned.
Certainly, some followers of The Bachelor had been dismayed to seek out out that Underwood would have his personal Netflix present. A change.org petition demanded that Netflix not air the collection in a protest of Underwood’s actions.
In a critique of the collection on the web site The Each day Beast, one author opined that it is “inconceivable to shake the impression that each one of that is a part of a broader publicity marketing campaign designed to relegate what occurred with Randolph to the previous and defend Underwood’s place within the highlight.”
Underwood refers to those incidents vaguely through the Netflix present, admitting that he can not deal with the state of affairs instantly because of authorized causes. He says that he clung to his relationship with Randolph, believing that she may “make” him straight. In accordance with Selection journal, Randolph declined to seem on the present.
‘A specific amount of privilege’
A lot of Underwood’s wrestle along with his sexuality stems from his background as an expert athlete and the concern of being outed as homosexual amongst unwelcoming teammates and coaches. He reveals through the present that he tried suicide earlier than popping out.
“I positively really feel like being accepted from individuals who had been in my athletic group and my athletic life…. [It’s] not that it means extra, nevertheless it form of offers me extra confidence and validation when an NFL participant and an outdated teammate of mine say, ‘Does not change a factor, nonetheless love you, dude,’” Underwood mentioned.
Underwood’s story is disheartening. However exhibits like Coming Out Colton additionally display that the method of showing one’s sexuality to family members is just not equal for all.
“There’s a certain quantity of privilege [in] having the ability to have this all arrange for you,” Woods mentioned. “For lots of people, popping out is just not like that … it is not as simple because it appears to be like from exhibits like this.”
The collection incorporates the experiences of different skilled athletes who’re overtly homosexual. Olympic skier Gus Kenworthy acts as a form of mentor for Underwood — providing bits and items of helpful data (Kenworthy explains to Underwood what “cisgender” means within the opening episode) and trying to instil in Underwood a way of LGBTQ historical past. A visit to New York Metropolis’s famed Stonewall Inn is included.
“The way in which that he is form of discovering homosexual tradition seems like [he is a] straight spectator of queer tradition,” Woods mentioned. “And I believe that is as a result of the present is being positioned in a manner that the viewers is that straight spectator on queer tradition.
“The extra queer narratives that we now have out in media and on this planet, the extra diverse of an image we paint of the queer group.”
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