I'll try to present this as neutrally (and succinctly) as possible. I certainly have my own opinions about the whole thing, but I want to present it without commentary and get some gut reactions.

So a friend of mine, Samuel, recently started dating a woman, Leana, and both expressed interest in exploring polyamory and ENM. They both agreed early on (at Leana's request) to stay monogamous at the outset of the relationship until they could have a conversation about opening it, essentially to establish their own trust and relationship first. Samuel agreed to that and said he'd follow up every month or so about that conversation. As promised, he did so and Leana said she wasn't ready for the conversation quite yet. Samuel accepted that and moved on.

However a couple weeks later (six total weeks into their relationship) Samuel abruptly told her one night that he had matched with a woman on a dating app and was going to meet this other woman that coming weekend. Leana asked him not to (or at least postpone, she needed him emotionally available that weekend for unrelated reasons) and he said he was going to do it no matter what.

Leana and I have become friends since their relationship started so she texted me In something of a panic and asked that I talk to him. I did, and it didn't go well. She felt as if this was cheating since Samuel didn't actually have a conversation with her and overrode her wishes, whereas he disagrees and says it's not cheating because he was up front about it and didn't conceal anything—thus she can leave and not be okay with his decision, or stay and be okay with it, thus also opening the relationship. He also justified it further by saying "Leana was never going to be ready for that conversation, so I had to force it this way." He later cancelled the date with the woman, however changed it to a phone date later the next week as opposed to in-person. He has since apologized for how he handled it, but not for his actions themselves.

There's more context but those are the biggest details. I'm curious what the gut reaction of this community is given everything above? Like I said, I certainly have my own opinions, but I want to hear others before chiming in too explicitly with mine.