Contestants on the The Bachelorette premiere this week did not hold back.
Several of the men took cheap shots at Clayton Echard.
On the one hand, it makes sense. These guys are all competing for not one but two of Clayton’s exes.
But … what does Clayton himself have to say about all of this?
Clayton and girlfriend Susie Evans were both guests on Kaitlyn Bristowe’s Off The Vine podcast on Monday.
“As I saw the episode,” he recalled, “I was very happy to just feel that I’m like, you know, ‘It’s not personal, it’s business.'”
Clayton added: “And I’m happy with where I’m at today.”
“I’m pushing the things I want to push [on],” Clayton then noted.
“I’m chasing my true purpose and passion in life, finally, for the first time,” he affirmed.
“And I think through all the muck, and everything that I went through,” Clayton said, “here I am because of this entire environment.”
“So as I saw the show,” Clayton acknowledged, “the episode, and all of the attacks and the song, the choir.”
He then joked: “I’m gonna go chase down those parents.”
Clayton admitted: “I honestly didn’t really get a reaction other than I just kind of laughed.”
Gabby and Rachel were not the only ones to roast Clayton. And their burns were among the mildest.
As Clayton alluded, Alec brought in a small children’s choir to sing “Clayton Sucks.”
And Johnny referred to Clayton as a “piece of s–t.” Harsh.
Susie watched, too.
She appraised that Clayton had “handled it better, overall, than I did.”
Susie freely admitted that she “was annoyed” by the insulting theatrics.
“Like, come on,” Susie then said. “Clayton has given, you know, he can laugh at himself.”
She continued: “And I can laugh at Clayton. And I can laugh at myself.”
“But also,” Susie expressed, “my fear is, like, ‘Does this open the floodgates back up of all the hate and stuff?'”
“So that’s where I was,” Susie then explained, “like, ‘Oh, my gosh, really?'”
She then noted the contrast: “But Clayton, definitely was, like, going with the flow.”
Susie added: “He was able to laugh.”
Clayton then noted that he was “able to find light in it.”
But he did admit that it wasn’t necessary. The episode didn’t need to drag his name through the mud.
And Clayton reminded listeners — and, perhaps, producers — that there could be consequences.
“Do I think that it’s, that’s what should have been shown?” Clayton asked.
“I mean, no,” he then admitted.
“I do think it was cyberbullying or an attack,” Clayton characterized, “or it’s going to lead to cyberbullying.”
“And so for that, I’m not the biggest fan of how that was shown,” Clayton expressed.
“But it was and like you said,” he acknowledged.
Clayton spelled out: “It’s just the nature of the beast.”
“I’m not gonna lose sleep over this point anymore,” Clayton then said.
“If I start giving more power to people that have no interest in my passions,” he stated.
“And they’re gonna try to just pull me off this path that I’m now on,” he continued, “and I’m full steam ahead on.”
Clayton assessed: “to me it’s as simple as just ignore it.”
“Let it pass because … I’m not going to give people power that should have no power over me.”
If he’s not losing sleep over it, then that sounds like a healthy worldview.
Clayton Echard Fears The Bachelorette Burns Could Lead to Cyberbullying was originally published on The Hollywood Gossip .