Reacher star and proud Floridian Alan Ritchson recently sparked an Internet battle with former classmate and congressman Matt Gaetz after attacking him for comments Gaetz made in support of President Donald Trump. Now, Gaetz has hit back via a post on X — and it’s about as underwhelming a response as you’d expect from the disgraced politician.
Both Ritchson and Gaetz grew up side-by-side in Florida, even attending the same school in Niceville — which explains why Ritchson is now publicly distancing himself from Gaetz’s political and personal actions. In an interview with GQ, Ritchson stated: “We are adversaries. It’s shocking to me that the panhandle of Florida continues to vote for somebody — knowing everything we know about him and the promises that he’s made behind closed doors about pardoning certain criminals — he’s just not a good dude!” Ritchson added an obligatory, “That motherf—er,” for good measure, thus sealing his opinion of the former congressman.
In response, Gaetz wrote two posts on X dismissing Ritchson’s claims of a rivalry and opining that his comments were fueled more by a desire to attract attention rather than any real hostility. “Spoiler alert: we were not adversaries,” Gaetz said in reference to the time he and Ritchson spent together in high school, adding that Ritchson was “was always very nice to me (and everyone). Hollywood apparently changes people!” This statement was followed by Gaetz’s slightly more aggressive second post, which observed, “He’s just trying to get Hollywood attention (but not just with the steroids).”
A Growing Divide Between Right-Wing Politics and Hollywood

Prime Video

As a representative of Florida for many years — and in some ways still embodying the political condition of the deep red state — it’s no wonder that Matt Gaetz is experiencing backlash from people who are proud to call Florida their home. Alan Ritchson’s ire stemmed specifically from comments Gaetz made urging Donald Trump, as the first convicted felon to hold the seat of presidency, to pardon himself along with other criminals. However, Gaetz has also earned significant criticism after a report from the House Ethics Committee alleged that he had violated several standards of conduct by engaging in “prostitution, statutory rape, illicit drug use, special favors or privileges, and obstruction of Congress.”
Gaetz is also far from the first Trump-backed politician to earn attacks from prominent members of Hollywood. Since the beginning of the Trump administration, dozens of celebrities have spoken out against his policies. Various late-night hosts like Jimmy Kimmel, John Oliver, and Stephen Colbert haven’t bothered to mince words when it comes to attacking everything from Trump’s hairstyle to his heinous incompetence, while others have candidly shared their grief and distress regarding certain actions of the Trump administration, such as mass deportations.

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However, Gaetz’s comments in particular demonstrate just how out of touch many politicians are in regards to Hollywood. His assertion that Ritchson is only criticizing him for attention ignores both the widespread outrage that many of Gaetz’s actions and comments have caused, as well as the fact that Ritchson doesn’t exactly need any publicity. His ongoing Prime Video series Reacher holds a 95% score on Rotten Tomatoes along with glowing reviews, and he’s also set to star in an unexpected fourth season of the college football comedy Blue Mountain State.
Source: GQ, X

Reacher

Release Date

February 3, 2022

Network

Prime Video

Showrunner

Nick Santora

Directors

Omar Madha, Carol Banker, Julian Holmes, Lin Oeding, M.J. Bassett, Norberto Barba, Stephen Surjik, Thomas Vincent

Writers

Cait Duffy