Tom Sandoval’s Controversial Comparison Sparks Outrage Among “Vanderpump Rules” Fans
The Fallout on Social Media
“Vanderpump Rules” fans immediately headed to X (formerly known as Twitter) to rightfully roast Tom Sandoval for his — to put it lightly — intensely inappropriate comparison to an alleged murderer (O.J. Simpson) and victim of police brutality (George Floyd). As social media user @acechhh put it while including a quote from the piece, “tom sandoval is insane lmao.” Podcast host Kate Casey stated the obvious: “What are we surprised #TomSandoval did something infuriating?” Meanwhile, @essayjenkins made the tiniest attempt to explain Sandoval’s intent before giving up: “I wanna say clueless. Nope, he has a clue. I wanna say daft. But he’s not that stupid. I wanna say classic narcissist. But even a narcissist has some sense of their awareness. Tom Sandoval is reaching where he shouldn’t because he wanted cruel criticism to ultimately play a victim.”
The Aftermath
If you give social media mentions a quick peruse, you’ll find a lot of similar comments. Obviously, Sandoval never should have invoked two genuine American tragedies when he was asked about the time he cheated on his girlfriend with their mutual friend for several months. In the New York Times Magazine piece, Irina Aleksander watched the fallout from these comments happen in real time. Though she was supposed to meet with Sandoval the following day, it was called off and she was offered a different cast member in his stead. She ultimately saw him again, but a Bravo employee was on hand (presumably to make sure he didn’t say anything else egregiously absurd). In any case, the quote went live — and fans took note of Sandoval’s continued villainy.