The docuseries' central figure addresses how the homophobia in his high school locker room contributed to the shame and fear that led him to keep his sexual orientation a secret.
With Coming Out Colton, Underwood had a chance to tackle what he says prevented him from living authentically — but the show completely squanders that opportunity. .
During its second episode, titled "Football," Underwood speaks with gay athletes and visits his high school coach to discuss the toxicity and homophobia he experienced in the locker room."The most toxic parts of the locker room were allowed by the coaches and the people who are supposed to be there to look out for these kids," says Underwood.Underwood's brief chat with his coach ends the episode, but that's where Coming Out Colton should have started.After watching it, I was left with countless unanswered questions: How does Underwood's high school locker room experience compare to the locker room experiences of Sam, Kopay, and Tuaolo in the NFL.
Underwood's coming-out journey is rightfully his own, but imagine a version of the docuseries in which the former professional athlete educates himself and then returns to his coach with informed suggestions on how to reduce toxicity in the locker room — to address the issue head-on, early on.
Before Underwood was the fence-jumping virgin who had a post-reality-series breakdown, he was a gay kid in a locker room who just wanted to play the game wellOn a platform like Netflix, he could have given children in locker rooms across the country a shot at having a much easier time coming out than he did
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