Patti Stanger is Bravo’s resident expert on love. I think it’s safe to say she knows more about love than Dr. Oz knows about the human body (why else would he spend so much time trying to avoid our serious questions by telling us to touch a dead person’s colon?) Anyway, Patti is a third generation matchmaker and her show, called Millionaire Matchmaker, helps people with money find people with not so much money to date and love. Most of her episodes deal with heterosexual relationships, but there have been a few times where Patti attempted to match up some homosexual couples. Patti boasts that she has a 99% success rate, and insists that the number one rule to create a successful relationship is to withhold sex from your partner until the two of you are monogamous…which not only sounds impossible, but IS ACTUALLY IMPOSSIBLE. As in about as true and unhelpful as a sixth grader’s science fair project that concludes water is wet.
But Patti got herself into some trouble on Sunday night when she appeared on Andy Cohen’s Watch What Happens Live! show. Someone named Dustin called in and asked for advice about open long distance relationships, and Patti quickly said, “In the Gay world, it will always be open.” Realizing she just assumed that Dustin was gay, Patti then asked if that was in fact Dustin’s sexual orientation was and when he replied in the affirmative, she said “There is no curbing the gay man” (which is offensive because it insinuates that all gay men are sex-crazed fiends). But Patti’s comments weren’t over. She then turned to host Andy Cohen (who is openly gay) and she said, “I have tried to curb ‘you people'” (in other words, make gay people trade in their sex-crazed lives in favor of what she considers to be normal, which is monogamy). Cohen remarked that he was actually only interested in monogamy, and Patti (according to The Hollywood Reporter) “broke down laughing” and replied “when was the last time you had a boyfriend? You know this. You’re gay.” And THEN, when another viewer called into the show, Patti greeted him by saying, “First of all, you’re very handsome. I thought you were straight” (which is offensive because it implies that only heterosexual people are attractive). Cohen seemed confused and stated, “I don’t know why being straight is a compliment.” Keep in mind that all this happened on Sunday.
Patti then appeared on Joy Behar’s HLN show on Monday night and tried to explain what she meant by everything she said to Andy Cohen the previous night. But after she attempted at making amends by saying, “I apologize if GLAAD was offended,” she continued to pontificate about the sex lives of gay men, saying “But the gay man, they whip it out at eye lock! They get involved, and then find out later whether or not they want a serious relationship. And I hope they use the privilege in New York for gay marriage because they have it. A lot of gays aren’t getting married!” You can watch the full clip below.
Here’s the thing. I don’t believe Patti is a bigot. I don’t believe she wishes to harm any homosexual person, nor do I believe she wishes any ill will towards homosexuals for the reason that they are gay. HOWEVER, I think she’s nuts — which can be easily proved by how she told Behar that the statements she made on Sunday night didn’t refer to all gay people, but then went right ahead and made the complete generalization, “but the gay man, they whip it out at eye lock!” And so, yeah, we have a problem. A spokesperson for Bravo told The Hollywood Reporter on Monday, “Bravo regrets the comments expressed by Patti Stanger on Watch What Happens Live last night. Her comments are not representative of the network’s beliefs and opinions. We apologize for the offense it caused.” So I would imagine this has turned into a significant problem for Bravo, and I assume she’ll understand exactly how significant pretty soon.
Sources: Patti Stanger, THR, THR
