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Stassi Schroeder Explains Controversial #MeToo Comments: ‘It’s Never My Intention’ to Hurt People (Exclusive)

Moving forward. Stassi Schroeder opened up about the controversial comments she made regarding the #MeToo campaign during an episode of her podcast, Straight Up With Stassi, in November.

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During an exclusive interview with Us Weekly’s correspondent Christina Garibaldi, the 29-year-old reality star revealed that she was “absolutely” surprised by the backlash she received after the episode aired. “I wouldn’t have put something out that would hurt people if I thought it would hurt people,” Schroeder told Us on Tuesday, December 5. “That was never my intention. It’s never my intention to go and do a podcast that offends anyone or really hurts them. So I was very surprised. So all I can do is apologize and just try to be more mindful and be better moving forward.”

Stassi Schroeder apology me too
Stassi Schroeder.

The Vanderpump Rules star, who recently clarified her remarks in a statement posted to Twitter, explained that many people have supported her since she issued the apology. “A lot of people have just been like, ‘All I needed to her was I’m sorry.’ So it’s been easier,” Schroeder said, adding that she still has mixed feelings about deciding to delete the episode. “I still wrestle with it. I’m not sure how I feel, because even when I deleted it I’m like, ‘Should I put it back out there?’ Because people are just reading now a few lines of a two hour podcast and they’re thinking that I’m saying something… I actually didn’t really talk about the #MeToo campaign that much at all. I literally, I feel like I made one sentence about it. It was one statement. So it became all about that. But I don’t want to bring more attention to it, I realize that I was misinformed and there’s a lot I don’t know. So I think it’s best that I didn’t re-release it.”

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As previously reported, the Bravo personality sparked controversy after referencing victims of sexual harassment in a since-deleted episode called “Are We on a Male Witch Hunt?” Schroeder claimed that many victims were initially “wiling” to go to hotel rooms and were only now speaking out against their abusers because of the “hashtag me too trend.” Schroeder also stated that “no one can me make me suck someone’s d–k.”

After being called out by many listeners and losing several of her advertisers, Schroeder released a statement saying that she “crossed a line” and “it was irresponsible for [her] to make generalized statements about a very serious topic, such as sexual harassment, as it is not [her] place to speak about anyone else’s experiences.”

While also exclusively speaking to Us on Tuesday, her longtime friend and costar Katie Maloney-Schwartz weighed in on the incident. “[Stassi’s] been having a really hard time with that,” the SUR waitress revealed. “Me, personally, because my personal experiences, thoughts and opinions are sensitive to me, sometimes I don’t even want to touch subjects like this. Because no matter what we say, we have a tendency to sort of dissect everything and interpret things differently. That’s one thing I said to her, ‘Yeah, no. Don’t touch it.’ I know she likes to have this unfiltered, very opinionated …. that’s what her podcast is about, and I get that. But this is just so hot right now. White hot.”

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“There’s still so many people affected and so many things coming out,” she continued, “I think it’s just too soon to be having any sort of controversial take or opinion about anything. I just told her, ‘You just have to keep your head up and do everything you can.’ I know she’s sorry. She’s tried to apologize and really put out there that she feels wrong and she knows she messed up. Eventually, I think people will come around. I hope so.”

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