Robert Sepulveda Jr., a.k.a. Logo’s first gay bachelor, is opening up about his past as an escort, saying he didn’t bring it up during the show’s casting since he didn’t think it would “come up.” But he’s glad it did.
“Whoever tried to harm me or the show I take it as a blessing because now I can talk about it openly,” Sepulveda told Access Hollywood in a segment set to air on Thursday.
As TheWrap first reported, Logo was blindsided by the news that Sepulveda, the lead for its first dating show “Finding Prince Charming,” had worked as an escort. A person with close knowledge of the situation told TheWrap the network followed “standard protocol” when vetting Sepulveda and that “nothing came up” in the background check. The insider also said the network “didn’t find out until well into production.”
Since the revelation, the network has been scrambling as it deals with the controversy.
Sepulveda told Access he got into escorting after the furniture store he was working in during his college years went out of business.
“My parents were paying for half of my tuition,” Sepulveda said. “I was responsible for the other half. The business went out of business, the furniture store and I really had just a couple weeks to figure out what I was going to do. I basically had no money in my account … I had to take control of the situation and take control of my life.”
Asked by host Kit Hoover what exactly his job entailed, Sepulveda said, “I guess everybody understands what an escort is.”
Host Natalie Morales kept pressing, asking Sepulveda whether it meant “having sex.”
“Well, you know, whatever happens between two consensual adults is consensual and I’m in total control of what I want to do or don’t want to do,” Sepulveda replied.
Sepulveda also insisted he never did porn, despite reports to the contrary. A lawyer for Sepulveda sent TheWrap a letter insisting that his client has never done porn and that a video sent to an ex-boyfriend 10 years ago was posted online without Sepulveda’s permission — and has since been removed from the site Xtube, a claim which Sepulveda reiterated during his interview with Access Hollywood as well.
“I’ve never done porn in my entire life,” Sepulveda said. “There was a video that I sent out to an ex-boyfriend. And people out there, don’t send out videos, it always comes back. I sent it out to my ex-boyfriend and when I started to do more television and modeling work, it was posted on a Tumblr site. And it just went viral and it’s a real violation for someone to post something that you sent privately and then have the world see it. It’s a violation. ”
Sepulveda has been on a frenzied publicity blitz to promote his show, which airs on Logo tonight. Yesterday, he told People he escorted “off-and-on” for about two years until he graduated in 2006 and got his first “real job.”
Some LGBT advocates slammed Logo for calling Sepulveda “Prince Charming,” with one AIDS activist calling it “reckless.”
Logo, for its part, released a statement saying, “We are aware of Robert’s past and fully support him as he moves forward in his search for love on ‘Finding Prince Charming.’”
You can watch Sepulveda’s interview with Access Hollywood above.