Some comments made by a friend of Matt James are causing controversy in Bachelor Nation.
In a clip shared by a “Bachelor” fan account, James and some buddies are playing a game of golf. As James attempts to sink a putt, pal Jerry tries to throw him off his game by commenting about one of the women on the show, Victoria Larson, a.k.a “Queen Victoria.”
“Now how was Victoria’s body? Cause when I look at her, it doesn’t look very nice,” Jerry remarked. “And you’ve been making out with this woman.”
James didn’t respond, but laughter can be heard in the background.
Larson, however, did respond, issuing a comment to the video by writing, “Cute… I love my body :).”
James responded to the backlash, as seen in a sneak peek at his upcoming appearance on Thursday’s edition of “The Real”.
“It’s just a constant reminder that you need to be smart about the people you surround yourself with,” he said.
“And those moments when you’re in sports and people are trying to say things to you to throw things off your game, it’s sad that someone would think saying something like that about a woman that I was dating would deter me from what I was trying to do,” he continued.
According to James, more was said about the rude remark when the camera wasn’t recording. “I said something to him off-camera about it. Something along the lines of, ‘Victoria wouldn’t have given him a second look,'” he said.
“It’s always the pot calling the kettle black. Who is he to comment on someone’s body? It’s such a low blow for any man to try and take a dig at something like that,” he continued.
“That’s not my character and that’s not what I’m about,” James added. “It’s a shame that that’s even associated with what was going on. I apologize on his behalf. I don’t know if you’ll get it from him, but that’s not something I support or stand for.”
James’ full appearance can be seen on the Thursday, Jan. 28 edition of “The Real”.
