Tone-Deaf: 'Vanderpump Rules' Star Tom Sandoval Compares His Affair Scandal to O.J. Simpson and George Floyd Cases
Tom Sandoval compared the affair scandal to the O.J. Simpson and George Floyd cases.
Feb. 20 2024, Published 2:29 p.m. ET
UPDATE: 2/20/24 at 2:50 PM: Following the backlash, Sandoval told RadarOnline.com, “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.”
Say what? Tom Sandoval allegedly believes his affair with Raquel Leviss should be studied in history books alongside the O.J. Simpson and George Floyd cases, clumsily comparing his decision to step out on his longtime girlfriend, Ariana Madix, with America's obsession with the ex-NFL star's murder trial and Floyd's killing, RadarOnline.com has learned.
Tom's shocking affair with Raquel Leviss was exposed in March 2023.
Speaking candidly — a little too candidly — with The New York Times, Sandoval had a delusional answer when he was asked why he thought the cheating scandal, famously coined "Scandoval," got so big.
“I’m not a pop-culture historian really,” the Vanderpump Rules star 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?”
O.J. Simpson was famously acquitted of his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman's 1994 murders.
Irina Aleksander, who interviewed Sandoval, added a note to the article and attempted to give him the benefit of the doubt about his inconceivable response.
“I think I knew what he meant,” she wrote. “He was trying to express the oddity of becoming the symbolic center of a nationwide discussion and a major news story; what he communicated instead was something more honest, which is just how much the experience had made him lose perspective.”
George Floyd's 2020 death sparked a global movement against police brutality. His killer, ex-cop Derek Chauvin, is currently serving a prison sentence for his murder.
Aleksander also revealed that a representative from Bravo got word about Sandoval's interview and was "concerned" before the story even made it to press.
"A Bravo publicist rang me late on a Friday. Some of what Sandoval had said had gotten back to Bravo, and everyone was concerned. What was it that he said about O.J. Simpson and George Floyd exactly?”
Understandably, the reality star — who was labeled one of the most hated men in America after his months-long affair was exposed last year — is already getting backlash for his comments.
"Tom Sandoval comparing himself to OJ Simpson and George Floyd is so on brand, it’s hard to even make a joke about. Also it’s just so clear that he is actually dumb," one person responded on X, formerly known as Twitter.
The aftermath of Scandoval is playing out on Season 11 of 'Vanderpump Rules."
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"Why is Tom Sandoval comparing himself to OJ Simpson and George Floyd?? PLEASEEEEEEEE STFU," added another. "Tom Sandoval are you a masochist and if not why did you compare yourself to OJ Simpson and George Floyd (who you also shouldn’t have compared to each other) during Black History Month????" posted a third.
The fourth episode of Season 11 of Vanderpump Rules airs tonight on Bravo.
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