Former NFL player Mel Owens knows defense on the field—but now he’s on the defensive after explosive ageist remarks about his upcoming Golden Bachelor dates.
In a recent interview, Owens said he planned on “cutting” any women over his preferred age range on The Golden Bachelor Season 2, and now he’s filled with massive regret. After Gerry Turner’s downward trajectory following his stint on The Golden Bachelor Season 1, fans hoped Owens would be a welcome change. But the ageist comments have many wondering whether he truly is a good fit for the show’s progressive approach to love and the idea of aging.
In addition to “cutting” older women, Owens said on the MGoBlue podcast that he wanted to date women between the ages of 45 and 60. Given that Owens is currently 66 years old himself, his statement came across as a little hypocritical. His comments were especially offensive because The Golden Bachelor franchise is built on the idea that love has no age limit. Since this element has been absent from mainstream dating shows, The Golden Bachelor and The Golden Bachelorette’s loud celebration of love later on in life has really resonated with viewers, who feel like Owens’s statement was disrespectful and completely out of sync with the show’s core values.
It took two months after the controversy for Owens to finally take some accountability for his double standards. In an interview with Glamour, Owens admitted that his comments were unfair and insensitive. The reality star went on to add that his perspective has been shaped by his personal history and revealed that he has not been with someone in over two decades. However, that still doesn’t explain why he would go as far as to exclude women from even being considered for the show.
Mel Owens’s Defense Comes off as a Little Too Convenient
Owens added that one of his female friends actually sat him down and explained why people were so upset by the whole conversation. She told him that it didn’t matter where he was coming from, because ultimately, what he said hurt a lot of people’s feelings. “You’ve got to right the wrong,” she told him, and according to Owens, he immediately understood the gravity of it all.
He explained that his age-related remarks came from a “lack of understanding.” The 66-year-old confessed that he had limited knowledge about the age range and the premise of The Golden Bachelor. Obviously, this is a little surprising considering that he is leading the show’s upcoming season. According to Owens, 45 to 60 were the “gold years” for him, so that’s where he was coming from. However, if Owens really is so uninformed about the entire point of the show, does he even deserve to be the lead? The Golden Bachelor shared that he has apologized to the women in his season. While it’s great that he addressed the situation head-on, it’s almost as if he wants to make the apology the center of this entire conversation. At this point, the fans are left wondering whether Owens can actually be the kind of lead the Golden Bachelor franchise requires, or if this is all just an act.
Is the Future of ‘The Golden Bachelor’ in Danger?
The fact that it took someone else to help the former NFL star realize that he was wrong also shows that he is still not taking full responsibility for his own words. At this point, it feels like the apology is a calculated move to appease the public without any genuine reflection. His delay in addressing the situation, along with the weak defense of not knowing any better, isn’t what fans had hoped for.
The only thing Owens is right about is that he needs to work hard to gain the audience’s trust back. It might be a little too late for that, though, because the damage is already done. The Golden Bachelor lead has already alienated the very group that the show was designed to celebrate by setting this rigid age limit. Given all this, it’s worth considering how Owens’s controversy might affect future seasons of the show. If the producers start allowing the leads to set certain parameters for the contestants, it could risk changing the very nature and ethos that the Golden Bachelor franchise was built on.
The Golden Bachelor Season 2 premieres on September 24 on ABC with a two-hour special.