Ellen Apologizes for Calling the Bachelor a Jerk

By Tim Nudd

11/29/2007 at 12:00 PM EST

Video courtesy Warner Bros.
Ellen DeGeneres apologized on her talk show Thursday for calling Bachelor star Brad Womack a "jerk" earlier in the week – and will have him on Friday's show to ask why he picked neither of the two finalists in the show's finale.

During an interview with one of the finalists, DeAnna Pappas, on Tuesday, "I may have called [Womack] a jerk," DeGeneres admitted. "I'm pretty sure I did. Cause I thought he was a jerk. Cause I thought he led the girls on."

But soon she regretted her remark. "I went home that night and I thought, 'That's not who I am,' " she said Thursday. "I don't like to judge people. I don't want to call someone a jerk. I have no idea what his story is. ... I do think what he did was wrong, but I do apologize."

DeGeneres said she had learned that Womack, 35, was upset by her comments. "Because he likes me and was a big fan," she said, before adding jokingly, "Now, if I had known that, I would not have called him a jerk."

All may be cleared up Friday, as Womack has been booked for his own appearance on the program.

"I do want to hear what his excuse is," DeGeneres said, "because it was wrong, what he did. Not a jerk, but wrong. Maybe he is a jerk. We'll find out tomorrow, I don't know."