Matt Gaetz fires back at ‘Reacher’ star Alan Ritchson over high school ‘adversaries’ claim

Former Rep. Matt Gaetz fired back at “Reacher” star Alan Ritchson who claimed they were “adversaries” when they attended the same Florida high school.

“Hollywood apparently changes people!” Gaetz said on X Thursday afternoon.

The former congressman revealed that he and Ritchson were members of the same Speech and Debate team at Niceville High School.

Gaetz graduated from the school located in the Florida Panhandle in 2000 — a year before Ritchson.

The former Florida representative turned talk show host’s comments come after Ritchson was asked about Gaetz in a recent interview with GQ.

“That motherf–ker. We are adversaries,” Ritchson told the outlet.

In the interview, Ritchson expressed his displeasure with Floridians for continuing to vote for Gaetz.

“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!” the actor told GQ.

Gaetz couldn’t recall any animosity with Ritchson though he boasted about winning debate championships while the “Blue Mountain State” star focused on acting.

“We were not “adversaries” as I won debate championships and Alan did more acting stuff,” Gaetz said. “As I recall, his older brother Eric won more often than Alan did.

“He was always very nice to me (and everyone) and his mother, the computer lab monitor, loved me.”

Gaetz claimed that Ritchson’s mother Vicke invited him to a retirement party for Ritchson’s father Dave, where he boasted about singing the J. Giels Band hit “Centerfold. “

“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 “sitting on the dock of the bay,” Gaetz said.

The couple were first stationed in North Dakota, where Alan Ritchson was born, before being transferred to Illinois.

Ritchson and his family moved to Niceville, Fla. when he was 10 after his parents were stationed at nearby Eglin Air Force Base.

While Ritchson worked his acting career up to star in the Amazon Prime series, Gaetz followed his father and grandfather’s footsteps in politics.

He first served as a Florida state representative before being elected to the US House of Representatives in 2016.

Following his reelection to the seat in November 2024, Gaetz resigned from the House after he was tapped by then-President-elect Donald Trump as his Attorney General nominee.

Gaetz withdrew his name from consideration after meeting with Senate Republicans on Nov. 21, saying he didn’t want to be a distraction during Trump’s return to the White House.

The House Ethics Committee had reopened a probe into a complaint against Gaetz alleging he paid more than $90,000 to 12 women and unfurled evidence of numerous instances of Gaetz meeting with women between early 2017 through mid-2020 “who were paid for sex and/or drugs,” according to a draft of the report.