Matt Gaetz Fires Back At Alan Ritchson After Calling Him “Motherf***er” & Says ‘Reacher’ Star Is “Just Trying To Get Hollywood Attention”

Matt Gaetz is digging into his past and making serious claims about Alan Ritchson after the Reacher star called him a “motherf***er.”

The former Congressman-turned-TV show host took to social media to respond to his former high school classmate, denying they were “adversaries.”

“We were not adversaries. He’s just trying to get Hollywood attention (but not just with the steroids),” Gaetz posted on X, the microblogging platform formerly known as Twitter.

Gaetz went on to note an anecdote with Ritchson’s mom, saying, “I remember the time his mom (who is wonderful) wouldn’t let me read the Ken Starr Report in 1998 in the NHS computer lab because…. (you know).”

In an interview with GQ, Ritchson was asked about Gaetz, and he said, “That motherf***er. We are adversaries. It’s shocking to me that the panhandle of Florida continues to vote for somebody—knowing everything we know about him and the promises that he’s made behind closed doors about pardoning certain criminals—he’s just not a good dude!”

Gaetz had previously addressed Ritchson on another X post where he said, “Hollywood apparently changes people!”

“Alan was a year behind me in high school and we were both on the Speech and Debate Team,” Gaetz said. “We were not ‘adversaries’ as I won debate championships and Alan did more acting stuff. As I recall, his older brother Eric won more often than Alan did.”

Gaetz continued, “He was always very nice to me (and everyone) and his mother, the computer lab monitor, loved me. At her invitation, I even went to his dad’s retirement party from the Air Force. It was held at a karaoke bar called ‘lewbos’ in Niceville where his dad sang ‘sittin on the dock of the bay.’ I sang ‘centerfold.'”

Gaetz became a Florida House of Representatives member from the 4th district in 2010 and served in office until 2016. In 2016, he was elected into the U.S. House of Representatives and was re-elected four times. Gaetz stepped down when Trump said he was nominating him for U.S. Attorney General. However, Gaetz withdrew his nomination shortly after. The House of Ethics Committee would release a report claiming Gaetz paid women for sex and engaged in illicit drug use.

In the same interview, Ritchson also said he has pondered on getting into politics “to outdo somebody like [Gaetz] for good, and there’s a part of me that’s like, I’m not duplicitous enough to succeed in politics.”