On Tuesday, the star of LOGO’s upcoming “Finding Prince Charming” — essentially a gay version of “The Bachelor” — finally discussed his escorting history with Huffington Post‘s Noah Michelson.
Related: WATCH: “Gay Bachelor” Robert Sepulveda Jr. Addresses Escorting Past: “I Was Young”
“The past is the past,” he said briskly. “I was young and it helped through college.”
Related: “The Gay Bachelor” Is Apparently Lying About A Failed Non-Profit He Doesn’t Even Run
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Now, The Wrap is reporting that network execs were “blindsided by the disclosure” and are “scrambling to contain the PR nightmare.”
A person close to the situation told The Wrap the network followed ‘standard protocol’ when vetting Sepulveda and that ‘nothing came up during the background check.”
‘The network didn’t find out well into production,” he added.
Related: Should “Finding Prince Charming” Acknowledge Robert Sepúlveda Jr.’s Escorting Past?
An op-ed piece by E. Alex Jung published yesterday by Vulture argues that the show shouldn’t sweep his hustling days under the rug, but should incorporate them into the narrative of the show.
They wanted a bachelor who looked like a porn star to activate the trashy, libidinal desires of gay men, but they didn’t want him to talk about it once they realize he might actually have been one. It’s the Madonna/whore complex, but for gay men. Indeed, what may make Finding Prince Charming interesting isn’t Sepúlveda himself, but rather the era the show represents: when marriage is not just a possibility for queer people, but an obligation.”
Watch the trailer below:
Sluggo2007
An obligation? I feel absolutely no need to be married.
Kieran
Based on the trailer it would probably be more arousing watching yet another re-run of Golden Girls on Logo.
Jack Meoff
Well that trailer just cured me of any compulsion or inclination I might have had to watch that show. Where did all the testosterone go?
ChrisK
His escorting and sexual weirdness is the only redeeming factor in this show. They need to incorporate it into it. Not run away.
geoker
They could have done a simple google search and found videos of him jacking off online. Do you think the contestants are not aware of his big uncut schlong?
And the problem with a gay version of the bachelor: why would they think contestants would not fall in love with each other instead of the target?
QJ201
I guess Michael Lucas was unavailable.
DDstar1me
Well, I for one am looking forward to binge watching this show. It’s finally time for another A-listers type of trash TV and I am here for all of it honey. Yaaaaassss! LOL.
Say what you want about Mr.Sep but to me he’s very handsome. he can drink directly from my tip any day. YYYYYYYYYYYYYYAAAAAASSSSS.
Hhhhhh…I love being gay.
Now bring one the men.
DCguy
So nobody at Logo did ANYTHING resembling a check on this guy?
He claimed to be a successful interior designer and an activist, and yet now can’t prove one and the other is suspect.
Nobody at Logo bothered to do a 3 minute.Google search of his business. Or they just didn’t care because the straight people running it assume all gay men are drugged out scene Queens anyway.
DCguy
Does the winner of the show have to pay his hourly rate if they start dating?!?!?
ChrisK
@DCguy: Where did it imply he was a druggie? Stop making shit up.
ChrisK
@DDstar1me: Me too DD. If Logo is smart they’ll be playing this up up to the max. By all means act it up.. we just didn’t know. Meanwhile I’ll get the popcorn ready:)
film2212
“straight people running it ASSUME ALL GAY MEN are drugged out scene Queens anyway”
Jimmy
Don’t judge someone by their past….they don’t live there anymore.
film2212
@Jimmy: not if the “past” is 4 months ago
Mandrake
From what I’ve seen in this trailer, this show will likely be an embarrassment to gay men, reeking of immaturity and stereotypical drama queens. The bachelor’s escort past is inconsequential.
skilos
They needed to find a man to be the ‘bachelor’ instead of some prima donna douche bag.
Matt Achine
Does it even matter? Sexual exhibitionism sweetens the pot for this community. Making a living from it is a rite of passage at this point.
KaliLA
Having worked around one of the contestants on the show, I can say they are all not indecent people. However, the gay culture in Los Angeles and in any city in general is largely organized around the gentry’s physical and mental desire towards self fulfilling objectives of sex, relationships, and fantasies. The LGBT community is however, progressed much further in setting a prototype for a healthy, spiritually fulfilling and balanced culture amongst a small population of LGBT members globally.
I believe we should take a stand for values that we want to shape our communities with and this begins at home. I am fortunate to have a supporting family, LGBT co workers and an excellent spiritual belonging in this metropolis of Los Angeles, but I do know that there is a lot to be done within our community for a stronger brotherhood/sisterhood with common value story in order to succeed as a minority.
So, if you feel like the show and its participants communicate the values which you would like to see being fostered, then please support the cause and vice versa. Overall, it is not about making someone feel ashamed of their past or present, as we all have such tendencies to create undesirable circumstances. Rather, this opportunity should allow us to look within and evaluate the direction of our moral compass in order to be true to what we stand for and believe in as individuals.
Thank you for reading my opinions on this matter.
robho3
I guess they used the same people that vetted Sarah Palin — lol. Logo totally did this to get media buzz just like it has done. This is how networks promote reality shows— free press. I also find it interesting how the porn videos he maid are still posted on his xtube profile page. Reality tv is disgusting. Looking at our presidential race— it is just a big reality show.
oregonduckbrad
@QJ201: Ha! Exactly. This whole show: gross, no.
mujerado
@DCguy: There’s no conflict between his having sold his body to pay for school and being a successful interior decorator and an activist. Get over your false dichotomy.
4of14
Here’s the thing. “Dating Naked” They may be, but we’ll never see it. “Naked and Afraid”? I’m afraid not.“Finding Prince Charming”? Please!
America and the tv networks are so afraid of sex and nudity, that these shows have no worth. The same thing is and has been going on with African Americans and tv show. Turn up the volume and leave the room. I defy you to tell me whether the cast is black or white? In the North, East, South or just in a studio in Southern California.
Paco
The show would be more interesting if they chose a blue collar type of guy looking for love, rather than the typical gay pornstar type. The preview was a complete turn off. I guess even gay reality shows need to be just as trashy as the the straight ones or no one will watch.
sf_italianboi
oh come on you guys, this is the train wreck we all wanted. anyone who thinks we should be looking for role models on a show like this, is deluded. the producers totally knew about his background and selected him because they knew it would generate interest. we’re all being manipulated. just watch the show (or dont watch it) and enjoy it because we all like a train wreck
ugenegod
I’d pay.
ryantbo
with all the gay men that they had to choose from, is this the best they could do? Not only was he an escort, but he posts videos of gifts from “fans and clients” where he drinks cum and injects it into his own dick. Shoves bottles up his ass. Yeah this is how we in the gay community want to be represented on tv. I’ll pass. At least this one doesn’t have a fag hag that that screams and cries through each episode or the deck is stacked with straight guys
Doughosier
I got a little dumber just watching that trailer. That show has nothing to do with love so I don’t see a problem with an escort. Why not just use a hot go go boy?
JerseyMike
REALLY!?! LMAO.. This show looks corny as fcuk!!. A show full of drama QUEENS!!
bobbyjoe
I’m shocked–shocked!– to find that gambling is going on in here!
Captain Obvious
This is such a dumb thing to latch on to. Most of the people in entertainment started as some form of “escort”. Brad Pitt was laid up against some old man laying down on a couch together before anyone knew who he was. Anyone going to call him an escort or does it only count when shaming gays?
Heywood Jablowme
Maybe Robert should have done what Malaria Trump did – SUE anyone who said he used to be an escort! Even though it’s well-documented and in this case online. The faux-outrage is all that counts.
dean089
@Sluggo2007: Amen! Unfortunately the liberal straighties who think they run the gay rights movement feel otherwise.
dean089
So what’s the difference between his having been an escort and the standard gay sluts that we see every weekend at the bars? At least an escort is honest about what he’s doing.
UltimateSin
I am just picturing a big herpes outbreak at the end of the show.
Kangol
@dean089: If you’re unhappy with the gay rights movement, then I hope you’ll get involved to reshape it. And it’s not just liberal straights but many homonormative conservative and centrist GAY MEN AND WOMEN who are all for pushing everyone into same-sex marriage. We should have the equal right to marry if we choose to, but also the right NOT to if we don’t want to.
I don’t buy that Logo was blindsided. You cannot tell me that between Lance Bass and the other queens behind this that they did not know about this man’s past. I’ll say again that I don’t doubt at least one of the people involved enjoyed Mr. Sepúlveda’s sex work services in the past. There are more than a few successful, gorgeous young gay men of all races out there to choose from, so how on earth did they just happen to settle on this particular person? Has anyone pressed Bass and the other people behind this show how they found and chose Sepúlveda?
Manchester
I can’t even make it through the trailer let alone the series.
umac40
“I was young and it helped through college” – millions of kids are work non-whore jobs to pay for college, you were just lazy. Lazy is the word you’re looking for. It’s easier to let a stranger ejaculate inside of you than work a real job. I’m so tired of this “don’t judge anybody for being a prostitute/crackhead/disease bag” message that some people try to push. Yeah, I am going to judge you for making terrible life choices, sorry.
DCguy
@mujerado:
There is when it’s a lie. Not an activist, not a successful designer and still actively hooking.
I also find it interesting that the stories about a race-ist past are being left out here.
Rondeaux
So has no one had a chat with any of the dudes that signed up to “date” him? My guess is after seeing those videos at least half of them have probably voted themselves off of that island. To each his own but wooing someone over candlelit dinners and amazing cruises is one thing but then to follow all that with “Checking the mail to see who has sent me their used condoms is what I consider foreplay” is asking a lot.
BriBri
He’s just ok, and an ex prostitute. Next……
surreal33
Yet another example of how gay men are DISRESPECTED by gay media. When the last time The Bachelor featured a former male whore? Gay men are continuously unvalued and marginalized by gay media. Gay media feeds us a steady diet of GARBAGE in oh so handsome packages because we do not DEMAND BETTER!
surreal33
UMAC 40, you are my hero. Thank you for speaking truth to power.
surreal33
Yet another example of how gay men are DISRESPECTED by gay media. When is the last time The Bachelor featured a former male whore? Gay men are continuously undervalued and marginalized by gay media. Gay media feeds us a steady diet of GARBAGE in oh so handsome packages because we do not DEMAND BETTER!
Jack Meoff
@DDstar1me: How in hell are these guys A-listers.
Jack Meoff
In the trailer it looks like it’s a house full of screeching finger snapping bottoms anyhow. Not my cup o tea. If it were blue collar types I might be interested.
phallictomato
Who cares if the bachelor escorted in the past. Like he said, it paid the bills. Heck, if I looked like him, I’d probably do the same – just saying…
I still think this bachelor guy is shady as hell though. I don’t know why but I just get that whole ‘sociopath’ vibe from him. He’s probably amazing in bed, but definitely someone I wouldn’t want to marry. Still, I look forward to an all gay cast of the bachelor. It’s about frikkin time! (Thank you Lance Bass! Much respect) We need more LGBT representation in mainstream TV – including dating shows.
Caprice Goldberg
Yeah, I’m not sure, as a community, our “rock stars” are porn stars so the fact that a minor celebrity has a gigantic schlong and rented it out in Ft Lauderdale frankly makes him more appealing for many of us.
I can identify far, far more with him than, say, Ellen or (G-d forbid) Neil Patrick Harris…
Matt Achine
@Captain Obvious: “Most of” who? You can’t prove a word of that.
Matt Achine
@Caprice Goldberg: You can identify with him more because you also have a huge penis and put it up for rent? Oooookay.
He BGB
The Bachelor is on ABC NETWORK, during family hour. Finding Prince Charming is on LOGO. Logo! Where drag queens tuck and have hissy fits. What difference does it make if he was an “escort” (don’t you just live euphemisms?) past? Actually, that’s a selling point on a Logo show.
He BGB
@He BGB:
I meant don’t you just LOVE euphemisms!
He BGB
@Jack Meoff:
LMAO. I thought the same thing. A blue collar guy, YES! Not a plucked, painted, overly groomed, shaded-in abs, fake salt n pepper Miss Thing.
stadacona
A prostitute and not even that hot. Probably has no money but lots of STI’s. The premise of the show makes no sense. Gays shouldn’t always mimic stupid shit that straight people do.
spanprof
Is this a visit to “Stereotype City” again (Will and Grace, Modern Family, the Fosters) Why not a love story a la Bass and Turchin? or NPH/ Burtka?
Captain Obvious
@Matt Achine: Ah you’re one of those. “You have to prove everything to me or it doesn’t exist.” Pfft. I don’t have to prove anything to you, Sweetheart.
Gravity doesn’t exist and all Muslims are terrorists in your world. Have a seat.
dre23222
I think the thing that gets people is his continue of lies. Not his so called past even though some say he was still escorting up until production of the show. We all got pasts but to keep saying the past is he past and I make it seem like you feel ashamed is what people are confused about. It seems this past brought you success. So why feel ashamed after it was blasted? Own up to it and keep it moving. Then keep lying about this business and activist that you doing. Be honest. That is why people are talking.
esemple
Proves he has what it takes.
Kenover
Of course the producers knew about his whoring past. It was a gift of controversy and free publicity.