Michael Rapaport has addressed backlash over his controversial The Traitor remarks about former The Bachelor star Colton Underwood.

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The comedian admitted that he feels remorse for how Colton interpreted his comments at the Round Table on The Traitors' fourth season.

"I do regret that it hurt his feelings," Michael, 55, told Entertainment Weekly.

"I do regret that it offended him... I wish I had used different words. I wish it never happened."

Michael has been slammed on social media for his eyebrow-raising confrontation with Colton, 33, in which he had accused The Bachelorette alum of being a Traitor during the Peacock series' January 15 episode.

"Nobody in this room would be better at holding a secret than you," Michael said.

"There it is," Colton replied. "You think it was fun for 29 years of my life?"

Colton clearly interpreted Michael's comment to be a jab at his sexuality, and other cast members did as well.

"Oh no, no, no, no, no -- that has nothing to do with it," Michael clarified on The Traitors. "I think you came into this game loving the idea of being a Traitor."

Colton came out as gay in April 2021 after dating Becca Kufrin on The Bachelorette's fourteenth season as well as dozens of women on The Bachelor's 23rd season in 2019. He also looked for love on Bachelor in Paradise's fifth season in between.

Colton fell in love with Cassie Randolph on The Bachelor and the pair dated in the real world for about 18 months before they announced their split in May 2020.

Following his heated confrontation with Colton, Michael was banished from The Traitors.

"I thought that he was a Traitor, and I was riffing," Michael explained to EW.

"I was going at him because he was going at me, and I felt defensive and I was doing my best to deflect all of the attention, which had been on me the previous four roundtables."

He added, "Obviously, I didn't get voted out [before this], but I was getting votes. And I was annoyed that he had come at me earlier in the evening at the kitchen table."

Michael claimed that he was just "flowing" and "talking" with no ill intent behind his words.

"I was talking about him being conniving, cowardly and commiserating. Those words are thrown around a lot during this game: lying, secrets, dishonest, deceitful, betrayal," Michael continued.

"And that was just one of the words I used, and I would've used it towards anybody that I felt was coming at me, but I truly felt that he was a Traitor in that moment. I was dead set that he was a Traitor."

Michael said he felt "completely misunderstood" when his comment was largely perceived as a homophobic dig at Colton's sexuality.

"I felt gaslit. I felt that they didn't understand what I was saying. And I think that if the conversation had stuck to just me and Colton, it wouldn't have gotten to the level that it got to, because I feel like I acknowledged it and apologized right there," Michael recalled to EW.

But Michael said when several other cast members got involved, he regretted allowing the conversation to get to that point.

"I like Colton. I actually had a great time with him on the set," Michael noted.

"I probably had the most intimate and personal conversations with him up until that moment. But I did think he was a Traitor."

Michael apparently feels terrible that the confrontation got "out of hand."

"It obviously did offend him and some other people at the table, and it caused and brought negative attention to his world and his young family. It obviously brought negative attention to my life. It brought negative attention to the show, and it's not what my intention was," Michael explained.

But Michael acknowledged that Colton "had a right to misunderstand" him.

"I wish I would've been a little bit more chill and a little bit more careful with the words I was using, but it happened," Michael admitted.

"I spoke to him as soon as I could after production and we had a very, very, very good, grown-up conversation, and it was very funny. We laughed and we moved on. I actually heard from him when the episode dropped... He reached out to me."

Colton, for his part, told EW that Michael "didn't mean" to offend him and he isn't "holding a grudge" against the apologetic comedian.

Colton also explained why Michael's comment rubbed so many people the wrong way in a January 16 interview with Bustle.

"I think any closeted or queer person who has to hide a part of themselves is always going to be a little sensitive to comments and digs," Colton shared.

Colton said, for instance, Yam Yam Arocho "got really emotional" when the conversation went down.

"[Yam Yam] said, 'Michael, I never had to live in the closet because I could be out at any age, but I have friends who have, and I would never wish that upon people.'"

New episodes of The Traitors drop every Thursday night at 9PM ET/PT on Peacock.
About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski

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