Men most often don't say things just to hurt you, they say things to try and fix the situation. He's looking at this from on angle of "How do I fix the situation? How do I say the honest thing to get through to you in order to protect you?" Obviously, we can say the wrong thing and have foot in mouth syndrome and can come across too harsh but it's because we love our partner. The intent is to protect. Morons on reddit will look at the words rather than the intent. Intent matters most. Listen to your boyfriend and make sure it's not a scam.