Alan Ritchson, star of the TV series “Reacher,” has spoken out against his former classmate, Matt Gaetz. Ritchson, who went to high school with Gaetz in Florida, called him his “adversary” in a recent interview. “That motherf***er.
We are adversaries,” Ritchson said. “It’s shocking to me that the panhandle of Florida continues to vote for somebody — knowing everything we know about him and the promises he’s made behind closed doors about pardoning certain criminals — he’s just not a good dude!”
Gaetz served as a U.S. representative for Florida from 2017 until his resignation in November 2024. During his time in office, he faced allegations of sex trafficking and statutory rape, which he denied.
Alan Ritchson criticizes Matt Gaetz
The Department of Justice launched an investigation but ultimately did not charge Gaetz. Following his resignation, a House Ethics Committee report found “substantial evidence” that Gaetz had paid for sex, including with a 17-year-old girl, and violated rules of conduct related to prostitution, illicit drug use, and obstruction of Congress.
Gaetz responded to Ritchson’s comments on social media, claiming that they were not adversaries in high school and that Ritchson’s parents still love him. “Hollywood apparently changes people!” Gaetz wrote. Alan was a year behind me in high school and we were both on the Speech and Debate Team.
We were not ‘adversaries’ as I won debate championships and Alan did more acting stuff.”
Ritchson expressed mixed feelings about entering politics himself, saying, “There’s part of me that wants to get into politics to outdo somebody like him for good, and there’s part of me that’s like, I’m not duplicitous enough to succeed in politics.”
The public feud between the actor and the former representative has attracted significant attention online, with fans and political observers weighing in on the dispute.
