The Most Controversial Moments Of David Bromstad's Career

David Bromstad's former work at Disney is reflected in his HGTV series "My Lottery Dream Home": He gives lottery winners a happy ending by taking them house-hunting for their fairytale abodes. He also does it with an exuberance and warmth that could easily get him hired at a Disney theme park, but it's not all sunshine and singing forest critters for the designer behind the scenes. Bromstad has endured several tragedies in his life — and he's also been embroiled in a few controversies.

In a 2022 interview with Passport magazine, Bromstad confessed, "I'm hard to work for. Everything has to be perfect." On her Room Fu blog, designer Robin Callan shared that she observed this behavior in action on "Color Splash: Miami" when Bromstad was being far too critical of his design team. HGTV eliminated this problem — but clipped Bromstad's creative wings — by giving the artist a gig that required no renovating or decorating. It turned out that he possesses a gift for charming lottery winners. "Every single thing you see on TV is him. It is authentic," one "My Lottery Dream Home" participant told The Intelligencer.

While simply showing the newly wealthy potential places to settle down might seem like a concept that's easy to execute, there's still some deception involved in producing episodes of the show. And while Bromstad might be earnest and affable, some of his behavior has rubbed fans the wrong way.

Many HGTV shows employ some level of fakery to create compelling television, and "My Lottery Dream Home" is no exception. A rather egregious example of this was when the show's production company reached out to Minnesota couple Joe and Rhonda Meath, who won the state's Hot Lotto prize in 2015. As reported by The Lowdown, they had already purchased a home, so they were only acting interested when they toured two other properties. They also had to pretend that their current living space was new to them. With multiple outfit changes, the hiring of a home-staging company, and even the use of faux snow, their episode was more like a Hollywood production than a renovation reality show.

A BuzzFeed community member similarly told the outlet that their uncle and aunt, Rick and Lori Knudsen, had actually been living in their beachside abode for two years when the couple went house-hunting on "My Lottery Dream Home." The insider further dished, "They also did a 'three months later' follow-up segment that was in fact filmed the day after the house hunting shoot." 

Another lottery winner featured on the show, Brian Kutz, told HeraldNet that he had to do a little acting by pretending to look astonished by what he was seeing over and over again after entering a room. And in a Fox News interview, David Bromstad himself admitted that the fabricated drama was dialed up for another HGTV series he has appeared on, "Beach Flip."

David Bromstad keeps his love life under wraps these days, a preference that might be related to a monumentally messy breakup. After Bromstad and his ex-boyfriend Jeffrey Glasko called it quits in 2015, Glasko — who has worked as a Miami police officer and a special federal officer for the FBI — tried to take the designer to court. According to In Touch, he claimed that Bromstad had breached a verbal contract, and the aim of his lawsuit seemed to be ensuring that Glasko would be financially compensated for the sale of the condo that they had once lived in. However, he also used his legal filing as a means of humiliating his ex. Initially, Glasko made claims about Bromstad that were so salacious that a judge made the plaintiff amend his complaint.

Glasko still managed to drag his ex's good name through the mud in his amended filing, which read in part, "On or about 2010, [Da­vid] began using funds shared with [Jeffrey] to pay for illicit drugs and prostitutes resulting in a loss of trust and confidence."

Bromstad's attorney told In Touch that Glasko's outrageous claims were untrue, also pointing out that the lawsuit was ultimately dismissed. Another sign that Glasko's main goal was damaging his ex's rep was his threat to create a website where he would detail his allegations. However, he eventually quieted down, allowing Bromstad to put this particular controversy behind him.

David Bromstad is not above throwing shade at some homeowners' interior decorating decisions. Speaking to the Los Angeles Times about the difficulty of figuring out what "My Lottery Dream Home" winners are looking for in a home, he said, "Most of the time they don't have a style. Sometimes, yeah, it can be a little gaudy!"

Bromstad's own style is a controversial topic among HGTV viewers, although it's usually his eccentric outfits, not his home renovations, that fans find confounding. "Why do they let him on TV dressing like this? He can't even get being flamboyant right. Liberace would even be horrified," one Redditor wrote. "God I love him he's so much fun. But the outfits are getting a little annoying!" another commenter agreed. His taste might not be the biggest issue, however; Bromstad admitted to Passport magazine that he purchases some of his clothing from Fashion Nova, which is known for being a controversial fast fashion purveyor.

Some fans also dislike Bromstad's impressive tattoo collection, especially the ink that has started creeping up higher as he runs out of space elsewhere. "Is he getting prison tattoos now? Hadn't seen the ones under his eyes!" one YouTuber remarked, while a Redditor opined, "That neck tat is unfortunate." Bromstad's mass-produced artwork and Bed Bath & Beyond collection have faced scrutiny as well, with Queerty including them on a list titled "12 Unfortunate Assaults On Taste And Culture Made By LGBT People — And Cher."

After Donald Trump was elected president in 2016, David Bromstad took to Facebook to make a starry-eyed request. He shared that he had witnessed acquaintances cutting other people out of their lives due to political disagreements, and he begged his followers to stop behaving in such a manner. "Let's respect each other again, let's be able to sit in a room and discuss our differences and still be able to hug each other at the end of the evening," he wrote.

However, many of Bromstad's followers were not ready to embrace their foes on the other side of the political aisle, and they explained to him why they viewed his idealistic vision of a unified America as an impossibility. "Sounds great, but you can't reason with people who support hate, racism, homophobia, etc.," read one response to his post. "I have lived too many years going through stuff like this and fought too many battles for rights to concede to hate. And that's what's coming," another person wrote.

Perhaps the backlash to his post is why Bromstad later decided to stop talking politics. In 2019, he told the Star Tribune that he had even started avoiding news reports altogether. "If my friends get into a political conversation, I say, 'Good for you. Good stress on you.' None of it's related to me," he said. But for some, taking no stance at all on political issues is also a controversial practice.

The Salvation Army has a history of discriminatory behavior against the LGBTQ+ community. In 2001, The New York Times reported on the nonprofit's request to the George W. Bush administration to be exempt from anti-discrimination ordinances protecting LGBTQ+ citizens. In 2017, the NYC Commission on Human Rights announced that it had charged the Salvation Army Adult Rehabilitation Center with discriminating against transgender people. The latter happened after David Bromstad defended the Salvation Army.

In 2013, some of the HGTV star's fans were upset when they learned that he would be hosting a charity event for The Salvation Army. "We knew it was going to be a little bit controversial with the Salvation Army, but we did some research and we felt the Salvation Army was trying to clean up its act and make amends toward the LGBT community," Bromstad told the Miami Herald. On Facebook, he also let his fans know that he was aware of their concerns but argued that they should view the nonprofit's offer to work with him as a positive, progressive development that would ultimately benefit them. One reply to his post read, "You're rewarding bad behavior. You're saying it's ok. It's not. Take a stand." 

While the Salvation Army insists that it's ready and willing to help the LGBTQ+ community, in 2019, its national commander wrote an op-ed for USA Today affirming that its leaders "adhere to a traditional Biblical definition of marriage."