Howie Mandel Fires Back After Tom Sandoval Interview Backlash

The Vanderpump Rules drama known as “Scandoval” appears to be sucking everybody into its orbit, including media personalities such as Howie Mandel and Andy Cohen.

Tom Sandoval, the man at the center of the drama, appeared on the Howie Mandel Does Stuff podcast earlier this week to share his side regarding his relationships with his reality TV co-stars Ariana Madix and Raquel Leviss. Sandoval was accused of cheating on Madix with Leviss, bringing an end to a nine-year relationship with the former.

However, many fans criticized Mandel for the way he handled the interview, calling out his lack of knowledge about the situation and the show itself. Bravo’s own Andy Cohen even named Mandel his “Jackhole of the Day” for “not doing his homework.”

Responding to the backlash, the America’s Got Talent judge told Extra‘s Billy Bush, “I don’t need to do homework. I know who [Sandoval] is. I know what show he’s on… I wasn’t gonna weaponize his information and kind of, you know, challenge him on each thing. Those people that watch Bravo, you could challenge any piece of information you get from my podcast, but it’s just amazing how it has blown up everywhere.”

Mandel admitted he doesn’t watch Vanderpump Rules and “made this clear” before the interview. “I met Tom at a wedding. He’s a friend of a friend… I saw this Scandoval thing going into all this normal news cycle… and it was big,” he explained.

“I didn’t know what it was,” he continued. “And I asked my daughter to explain, and she said, ‘It’s that guy you met at the wedding,’ and he seemed like a very nice guy… My whole take from it was: ‘I don’t understand why this is as huge as it is.’”

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Others slammed Mandel for being too sympathetic towards Sandoval and seemingly excusing his infidelity.

“He’s a human being, and I have empathy for every human being, I really do,” Mandel stated. “He’s going through a real tough time, maybe he deserves to go through a tough time, but I really do feel for him. I feel for Ariana, I feel for Raquel, I feel for anybody who is involved in this.”

Mandel also said, “It’s just a podcast,” and finds it funny to see such an intense reaction. “It’s very funny to me now, watching everyone else who, like, I didn’t even know some of the names of the people that are in the show, and I’m getting hit hard for not knowing those names… I’m just trying to do a podcast, people.”

Vanderpump Rules, Wednesdays, 9/8c, Bravo