Wife Swap

[MsDiva2007]

Actually not so lucky for him. Apparently they have had to block emails. People are calling the phone numbers listed on Mrs website. A friend of mine also said a environmental company he is on the board of has been receiving calls for them to drop them or risk a boycott. I think Mr Fowler is by action and name a foul individual and didn't expect the backlash he is getting from folks.


Apparently Mr. Fowler is threatening to sue a website over some comments posted. If you google Stephen Fowler threatens to sue you will see it.

[candor]

That guy has some serious issues. If you're truly smart, you don't need to go bragging about a 4-year-old GRE test. If you're truly rich, you don't brag about your income. If you're truly "superior" (an illusion he seems to have bought into), you certainly don't bully people you believe are "inferior." That fact that he felt it necessary to be that aggressive tells me he is not at all secure with his supposed superiority.

But worse than all that, he was just downright abusive. One of those people who would never act that way in an equal match. I would have liked to have seen him spend a week with the husband in Missouri instead.

[prhoshay]

Now, THAT would have been VERY interesting.

[stacerace]

I read on another site that a "friend of a friend" of the Fowlers is claiming that Stephen apologized to Gayla several times and that Gayla said some nasty things to him that weren't shown. Yeah, I really believe that line of BS. Although who really could blame Gayla for saying nasty stuff. I personally would have punched him in the nose. But I'm not really very meek when it comes to bullies.

[MsDiva2007]

found this on Mrs Fowler's Blog Too little too late imo.



Tuesday, Feb. 3rd, 2009 2:00 pm

Dear Clients, Colleagues, Friends and the interested public.

I deeply appreciate the compassionate outpouring of support many of you have shown as I struggle through this most difficult time.

Now that I have had a few days to gather the courage, I would like to share with you where I truly stand. I too am utterly appalled by my husband’s behavior during the swap. I had not seen the footage until Friday night, so didn’t fully know how incredibly badly he had behaved until I saw it on national TV. I knew he was not proud of his behavior and that he had many misgivings. I did not know he had been aggressively cruel and insulting on so many levels. This has been impossible for me to comprehend.

While I completely condemn his behavior I feel confused because he has been a loving and dedicated husband and father for many years. This in no way can rationalize his inexcusable behavior. It is simply an explanation of why it has taken me this long to make a statement. I have asked Stephen to get professional help.

Finally, I know that I created offense as well. When I made the statement about the parents not having advanced degrees, I was responding to direct and probing questions from the director about what level of education I thought the Long’s had. I certainly don’t think people need college degrees to live intelligent and valuable lives, and was not passing any kind of judgment with my comment. My edited comment regarding being an American was actually an acknowledgement that being born here isn’t enough of a reason to be proud. We each need to make meaningful contributions that we are proud of and acknowledge other’s contributions as well. We create community and we try to live honorably and that is what makes us proud but it’s not our birthright. I am extremely grateful to be a part of this country.

Again, thank you for your heartfelt comments.

Blessings,

Renee

Stephen wrote this late yesterday and posted it to the ABC site, unbeknownst to me, but it was immediately taken down. I offer it here without commentary.

I hope you will take this as a sincere and unequivocal apology. I have been completely taken aback by the response my behavior generated and it has taken a while for me to figure out what to say. I’m not doing this to try and redeem myself. Rather I’m trying to try and undo some of the hurt that people have obviously felt as a result of my comments.

Clearly I behaved like a complete jerk and I am deeply sorry for all the offense I have caused. I’m not going to hide behind excuses, I showed an extraordinary level of stupidity and arrogance. I will do my best to address most of the criticism directed at me. If I miss something out, however, it is not because I do not deem it important, it is just that there is rather a lot to cover. First off, let me say I am deeply sorry for the terribly insulting way I treated Gayla during the show. She is a very pleasant person and clearly did not deserve to be treated that way. In fact, no one deserves to be treated that way. I was a bully, and it was just plain unacceptable. Once again, I offer my sincere apologies to Gayla, Alan, and their boys. Some of my remarks obviously made me appear unpatriotic. Well that was just dumb. I chose to become a
US citizen because I deeply respect the values upon which this great country is based. For the record, I think the US is an amazing country and I can’t think of anywhere I’d rather live. I have a huge amount of respect for all the personnel who serve in the US military. They have the toughest job in the world and I am truly grateful for the sacrifices that they make to protect this country.

I used gross generalizations about Midwesterners and I am deeply sorry for any hurt I caused with these statements. My comments were just stupid and made me look like the one who is undereducated. Some of my best friends are Midwesterners, which shows how truly dumb my comments were. I also deeply regret that my actions reflected badly on the environmental organizations with which I am affiliated, and were of disservice to the environmental movement as a whole. I’ve resigned both my nonprofit board positions and would ask you to not judge these organizations by my actions. I offer my sincere apologies to all the staff and board members.Further, I regret that my remarks made me come across as a person who disrespects overweight people. I do not disrespect anyone for being overweight and I deeply regret that my remarks suggested I do. My wife has devoted her career to helping people and my comments reflect poorly on her and her heart-felt work. I apologize for my extreme insensitivity to her clients and her mission. Please don’t judge Renee by my actions.I also want to apologize to my family and friends and thank them for their support, which I scarcely deserve. I believe we can all grow from experiences and I will work to ensure this experience teaches me to become a better, more compassionate person. Finally I want to be clear that these are my words and I have received no input from anyone else, not even my wife. I hope this apology will be taken in the true spirit it was given. Stephen

[stacerace]

found this on Mrs Fowler's Blog Too little too late imo.



Tuesday, Feb. 3rd, 2009 2:00 pm

Dear Clients, Colleagues, Friends and the interested public.

I deeply appreciate the compassionate outpouring of support many of you have shown as I struggle through this most difficult time.

Now that I have had a few days to gather the courage, I would like to share with you where I truly stand. I too am utterly appalled by my husband’s behavior during the swap. I had not seen the footage until Friday night, so didn’t fully know how incredibly badly he had behaved until I saw it on national TV. I knew he was not proud of his behavior and that he had many misgivings. I did not know he had been aggressively cruel and insulting on so many levels. This has been impossible for me to comprehend.

While I completely condemn his behavior I feel confused because he has been a loving and dedicated husband and father for many years. This in no way can rationalize his inexcusable behavior. It is simply an explanation of why it has taken me this long to make a statement. I have asked Stephen to get professional help.

Finally, I know that I created offense as well. When I made the statement about the parents not having advanced degrees, I was responding to direct and probing questions from the director about what level of education I thought the Long’s had. I certainly don’t think people need college degrees to live intelligent and valuable lives, and was not passing any kind of judgment with my comment. My edited comment regarding being an American was actually an acknowledgement that being born here isn’t enough of a reason to be proud. We each need to make meaningful contributions that we are proud of and acknowledge other’s contributions as well. We create community and we try to live honorably and that is what makes us proud but it’s not our birthright. I am extremely grateful to be a part of this country.

Again, thank you for your heartfelt comments.

Blessings,

Renee

Stephen wrote this late yesterday and posted it to the ABC site, unbeknownst to me, but it was immediately taken down. I offer it here without commentary.

I hope you will take this as a sincere and unequivocal apology. I have been completely taken aback by the response my behavior generated and it has taken a while for me to figure out what to say. I’m not doing this to try and redeem myself. Rather I’m trying to try and undo some of the hurt that people have obviously felt as a result of my comments.

Clearly I behaved like a complete jerk and I am deeply sorry for all the offense I have caused. I’m not going to hide behind excuses, I showed an extraordinary level of stupidity and arrogance. I will do my best to address most of the criticism directed at me. If I miss something out, however, it is not because I do not deem it important, it is just that there is rather a lot to cover. First off, let me say I am deeply sorry for the terribly insulting way I treated Gayla during the show. She is a very pleasant person and clearly did not deserve to be treated that way. In fact, no one deserves to be treated that way. I was a bully, and it was just plain unacceptable. Once again, I offer my sincere apologies to Gayla, Alan, and their boys. Some of my remarks obviously made me appear unpatriotic. Well that was just dumb. I chose to become a
US citizen because I deeply respect the values upon which this great country is based. For the record, I think the US is an amazing country and I can’t think of anywhere I’d rather live. I have a huge amount of respect for all the personnel who serve in the US military. They have the toughest job in the world and I am truly grateful for the sacrifices that they make to protect this country.

I used gross generalizations about Midwesterners and I am deeply sorry for any hurt I caused with these statements. My comments were just stupid and made me look like the one who is undereducated. Some of my best friends are Midwesterners, which shows how truly dumb my comments were. I also deeply regret that my actions reflected badly on the environmental organizations with which I am affiliated, and were of disservice to the environmental movement as a whole. I’ve resigned both my nonprofit board positions and would ask you to not judge these organizations by my actions. I offer my sincere apologies to all the staff and board members.Further, I regret that my remarks made me come across as a person who disrespects overweight people. I do not disrespect anyone for being overweight and I deeply regret that my remarks suggested I do. My wife has devoted her career to helping people and my comments reflect poorly on her and her heart-felt work. I apologize for my extreme insensitivity to her clients and her mission. Please don’t judge Renee by my actions.I also want to apologize to my family and friends and thank them for their support, which I scarcely deserve. I believe we can all grow from experiences and I will work to ensure this experience teaches me to become a better, more compassionate person. Finally I want to be clear that these are my words and I have received no input from anyone else, not even my wife. I hope this apology will be taken in the true spirit it was given. Stephen

Damage control? I don't know if I buy it or not but I'm glad he finally made a public statement because having his wife do it for him is such a wuss move. What I think is so weird is that the internet is totally blowing up about this and "Stephen Fowler Wife Swap" was in google's top 50 searches immediately after the show aired and I've heard nothing about it in the mainstream media. Not even a blurb. I'm sure Joel McHale will talk about on The Soup but I bet that's all we'll hear. Our local TV station has a segment called "The Rant" (which is quite hilarious sometimes) where people can write in or call in with opinions about various topics and so I emailed my query about why this hasn't been mentioned by the mainstream media. I don't know if they'll air it or not, especially since it's NBC and the comments are about an ABC show but we'll see.

[just1paul]

For some reason I don't buy any of it. Gimmick I say.

[canuckinchile]

That's a big slice of crow he is eating. I hope that letter is sincere. I know these shows are heavily edited but there is no way he could have looked that bad without doing and saying those things. I didn't see the whole show, but the last half hour was enough to make me steam. This guy seems to have no filter at all. It's good he is apologizing, I'll give him that.

[MsDiva2007]

Yeah it's kind of hard to say the editing made me do it. I watched the whole thing and was repulsed by both of them frankly.Mr Fowler is only apologising because it has cost him some of his business ventures.

[PugMum]

I wonder if he would be willing to do another episode FOR FREE with another family to try and redeem himself?