Love is Blind Season 9. Nick Amato in Love is Blind S9. Cr. Adam Rose/Netflix © 2025

"Love Is Blind" Season 9 star Nick Amato has broken his silence on the controversial comments he made about the LGBTQ+ community.

The Brooklyn-born luxury watch dealer faced backlash after episode four of the new season, when he asked fellow contestant Annie Lancaster if she thought it was a "fad" when young kids begin identifying as LGBTQ+. In a video message posted to Instagram on Wednesday, Oct. 8, Amato said the "gay kids and gay love conversation" on the show had been "deeply impacting me over the last couple of days."

Amato said the show's producers and "the studio reached out" and told him to tell people it was edited. "Yes, it was cut up and edited, but I need to take accountability too," he said.

USA TODAY has reached out to Netflix representatives for "Love Is Blind" for comment.

"I appreciate you giving me all the hell that you did and saying, 'That’s not right,'" Amato said, admitting there's still "a lot that I didn't understand," citing his traditional Midwestern household upbringing.

In his Instagram video, Amato adds that the "Love Is Blind" episode four conversation with Lancaster was "heavily sliced and diced" to take his comments out of context and "agitate." He clarified that the two were talking about the issue of introducing sexual content and material to kids' shows at a young age.

"I will LOVE and support my future children unconditionally, no matter how they identify," he wrote in the caption of an Instagram video posted on Wednesday, Oct. 8. "I take full accountability for how my words came across but I am glad it provoked this discussion and my learning."

"That's not an excuse, just part of the work I'm doing to grow and be better," Amato continued. "I love and respect my LGBTQ+ friends deeply, and I'm committed my growth and to be a better ally."

While the Colorado resident said he can handle insults calling him shallow and superficial, he said that comments accusing him of being anti-gay have hurt him the most.

"(Say) I have no depth of character. I can take that. It's reality TV, it's fair game. But don't put something together that's going to agitate an already marginalized group of people, but I'm taking accountability for that too, because there's a lot that I didn't understand," Amato said in the video.

He emphasized he will love his kids regardless of whether they identify as LGBTQ+, adding, "Being gay is perfectly normal, but I wasn't normalized to that."

What did Nick Amato say on 'Love Is Blind?'

During Season 9 Episode 4 of "Love is Blind," Amato and Lancaster were discussing whether they would be okay if their children identified as LGBTQ+, with Amato asking, "Do you feel like it's a fad?"

Amato said that children may assume they are queer after a friend tells them they are or after their friend comes out themselves. "When kids start having those thoughts too young, and maybe I'm old fashioned, but it's like it's a concern for me because, 'Who is telling you that?'" he said.

He then recounted a memory of his mother asking if he was gay after a difficult breakup with a former girlfriend, which he called "super hilarious" and "misdirected."

However, he applauded her for finding the courage to have that conversation with him.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: 'Love Is Blind' star Nick Amato apologizes for controversial comments on LGBTQ+ youth

Reporting by Anthony Robledo, USA TODAY / USA TODAY

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