Producers in The Bachelor and High school are acknowledging past racism on the popular dating franchise.
If you remember, there was no POC Bachelor until season 25 with Matt Jameswhich premiered in 2021, while Rachel Lindsay he was the first black Bachelorette party a few years earlier, in season 13 which premiered in 2017.
High school Since then it has had several women of color, including the lead of the upcoming season 21, Jen Tran.
In an interview prior to the premiere of their season, the executive producers Claire Freeland and Bennett Graebner spoke out about the franchise’s lack of diversity and inclusion in its cast, as well as its failure to protect its stars.
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“It’s hard to say out loud that people of color didn’t see themselves represented, that they didn’t see The Bachelor The franchise as a safe place”, Bennett said Variety“We didn’t have a black lead in this franchise for 15 years, and that’s inexcusable. It created a vicious cycle and it took a lot of work to get back to a point where we at least feel like we’re working towards something positive.”
Following MateIn the casting, his season was plagued with controversy, being the favorite Raquel Kirkconnellwho is still with Mate To this day, photos of her at a fraternity dance on a plantation resurface. So, the former presenter Chris Harrison made insensitive comments that minimized the damage the photos caused in an interview with Rachel Lindsay.
“I’ll be very frank: we let Mate below,” bennett shared. “That season went wrong on many levels. We didn’t protect it like we should. The end of that season was the darkest day I’ve ever had in this franchise. Here was this great black man and we should have been celebrating his love story. Instead, what we saw was a man burdened and overwhelmed by issues of racism. “It was very sad for me personally.”
Now, producers have stated that it is a priority to hire another Black Bachelor in the near future and correct the mistakes made in the past during MateSeason.
They also acknowledge a more recent case in which last year Bachelor contestant Raquel Nance shared the racism she faced online during the “Women Tell All” episode, with the current host Jesse Palmer apologizing for what happened, but acknowledging that it was actually racism.
PE Claire Freeland He said: “We have reflected on it and a big blind spot was not naming what it was: racism. That was another missed opportunity for us. Our intention was to shed light on what Raquel was happening. But we have to do better.”
“We are not always going to do it well” bennett “We are going to make mistakes as we move forward, but we are not going to avoid difficult conversations,” he added.
If you missed it, meet the 25 suitors competing for Jen TranThe heart of the next new season of High schoolwhich premieres on Monday, July 8.
Speaking of Rachel LindsayShe recently opened up about her “unnecessarily complicated” divorce from her husband. Bryan Abasolowho was the winner of her season.
