Over the summer, after Jennifer Aniston’s last movie under-performed at the box office, she began a subtle campaign to “change the subject”. This consisted of going out on a handful of very public dates with men like Harry Morton (Lindsay Lohan’s ex) and Courteney Cox’s Cougar Town costar Josh Hopkins. It was Aniston’s relationship with Hopkins that seemed particularly… strange. By some accounts, they were actually dating for a short time, and by other accounts, they barely knew each other and just went out on one little dinner date. After the dust settled from those public dates, Us Weekly called Aniston out with a story about how she loved her personal life where it is now – having casual, sexual relationship with douches who happen to treat her like sh-t. Josh Hopkins was one of the douches mentioned, and sources told Us Weekly that Josh referred to Aniston as his “sport f-ck”.

So Josh is trying to correct the record, and perhaps get a little sympathy by whining about the invasive media. Honestly, I didn’t know who he was before he allegedly boned Aniston, so maybe he should send his sport f-ck a card for raising his profile? Here are some excerpts from his Q&A with Parade:

Facing the tabloid rumors about Jennifer Aniston.
“That was really, really weird and hurtful. I’ve been working in this business for a long time and it’s the first time I’ve ever found myself caught up in the middle of tabloid journalism. It was eye opening to see that a publication could pick up a story from a completely fabricated, unnamed source and create a so-called story. It was just because of one picture. And in this day and age, it gets picked up on the Internet and blogosphere and gets perpetuated, and it just grows like wildfire.”

He’s trying to move past the drama.
“Just like anything, the further you get away from it with time you forget, people forget. But honestly, it just felt dirty and invasive. It gave me so much empathy for real celebrities, people that have lived with this frenzied scrutiny for their entire life. I don’t know how some people keep from getting completely jaded and fearful. It’s a testament to some of the real people who have to really deal with this because it was disturbing for me for just a little while.”

Too much information.
“I think that the information age is great, but there’s a downside to it obviously as well, and it’s that false information can be perpetuated so quickly. And it’s sad that so many people will believe it. And it’s not like I’m above any of that, I’ve read the magazines and I’ve stopped on the entertainment shows and watched. It’s interesting. But it’s the fact that people believe it. The fact that so many people interpret what they read and they have so many strong opinions about people that they’ve never met. It’s bizarre really.”

Escaping the gossip on set.
“It’s sort of a time to get away from it [gossip] and everyone here at least has an understanding of how twisted it is, which would be hard to have an understanding of if you hadn’t experienced it on a personal level. It’s one thing to read something outrageous, it’s another thing to see something outrageous about yourself and then have people that are just gonna form opinions about you on just completely random, false, made up information. So I think when we’re here, we just get away from all that. But sometimes something really bizarre, that it’s almost funny, comes out. Like ‘Courteney Cox has three-headed baby,’ you know, totally weird, then we’ll bring it up like, ‘Did you see this?'”

Do opposites really attract in relationships?
“Yea, I think they do. I think it’s helpful to be alike in some regards, but I think those regards are sort of like you have a similar sense of humor and way of communication. But if you’re good at something and your girlfriend or partner is not, and then she provides something else that you’re not good at, I think that hooks and niches are a good thing.”

What qualities does he look for in his real-life opposite?
“I look for sense of humor, and by that I just mean a girl that would laugh at my jokes. That doesn’t necessarily mean a good sense of humor! And I don’t like real clingy. I like some independence and I like them to have some independence too.”

He’s loving the success of Cougar Town, he’s just not so sure about the name.
“The name is not what the show is really about and I also know that a lot of people don’t want to watch it because of the name, because they think it’s her trolling for young guys when it couldn’t be further from that, so I guess it’s just sort of an unfortunately title. Everyone here pretty much agrees.”

His message to the fans:
“The show is not about cougars! Please spread that. The fans know!”

[From Parade]

See… he’s the VICTIM! We’re all so bad and mean. Eh. Whatever. I still totally believe that this guy is a douche, and I still totally believe he referred to Aniston as a sport f-ck. I think he’s talking about his “pain” and angst about the situation because talking about it more gets him more attention – more attention than he would get as the fifth lead on Cougar Town. Of course, I also think he was making a pointed comment about Aniston when he said that he doesn’t like girls who are “clingy” so what do I know? Maybe I’m totally wrong and he’s secretly a totally nice guy. Sure.

Photos courtesy of WENN.