Home and Away star defends controversial stunt after major backlash: 'Creepy'

Home and Away’s Matt Evans has been forced to address a controversial stunt he pulled for social media. The actor, who plays Theo Poulos on the soap, is also an aspiring singer and he wanted to share a snippet of his new song As Good As It Gets with fans.

He decided to drive around Sydney to find somebody to invite into his car to play the song to, but things didn’t go to plan. When he pulled over to ask a random woman if she wanted to join him in the vehicle, she looked stunned and politely declined, wishing him “good luck” before briskly walking away.

“Oh I am never doing that again, oh I’m so embarrassed,” Matt said in the video as he drove away, before playing his new song.

The star was slammed on social media, with many criticising him for inviting what seemed to be a woman on her own into his car.

“Who does something like that these days with all the crime and violence going on? Stranger danger alert! Maybe go busking next time,” one person commented.

“Next time don’t ask a girl on her own. Go for a group and pull over and play it, don’t invite them to get in the car. Babe, did you really expect a woman to just climb into a stranger’s car?! You didn’t think it through,” another added.

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“Maybe stick a loudspeaker on your car and blast your music out rather than trying to entice young girls into your car,” a third remarked.

“I mean asking random women to get in your car is slightly creepy mate,” wrote a fan.

“Maybe not the best way to advertise your new song, especially given a lot of kids would follow you. When you have to explain your videos (aka Katy Perry), it’s not great feedback,” another commented.

Home and Away's Matt Evans 'clears up' any confusion

Matt clarified in the comments that the video was all staged and the woman is a friend and part of his music management team. However, after comments kept flooding in he took to his Instagram story to explain his actions further.

“I just wanted to clear something up. I posted a reel yesterday about asking a girl to come into my car to listen to a song,” he began. “Obviously I would never ask a girl, stranger, by herself to get in my car and listen to a song, it was acting. And we got you all. I was surprised by how many people actually believed it.”

Fans rally around Matt Evans

His response was posted in a popular Home and Away Facebook fan group, and many were on the actor’s side, saying people were overreacting.

“Doesn’t take a genius to work out it was acting not real… the fact he even had to post this is crazy to me,” one person wrote.

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“I think most of us realised it was all for fun but there’s always someone who can’t take a joke,” another added.

“So many people have absolutely zero common sense these days [and are] so quick to judge others,” a third chimed in.

“It’s sad that he actually had to make a video and explain about this. Like it wouldn’t take a genius to work out it was a joke for his video,” another commented.

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