Producers of “The Bachelor” are finally addressing the big racism elephant in the room. In a new interview with LA Times, the team behind one of the world’s biggest reality TV franchises acknowledges a “vicious cycle” of racism that has plagued the series and its subsequent spin-offs.
As Variety points out, executive producers Claire Freeland and Bennett Graebner sat with the LA Times, admitting to the outlet that going 15 years without a Black lead added to an unfortunate culture on the series and in the fandom. “It’s hard to say out loud, that people of color didn’t see themselves represented, that they did not see ‘The Bachelor’ franchise as a safe place,” Graebner said.
“We didn’t have a Black lead in this franchise for 15 years, and that’s inexcusable. It created a vicious cycle, and it’s taken a lot of work to get back to a place where we feel at least we’re working for the positive.”
The producers specifically address the season starring Matt James, who was the first Black male lead of the series. In case you missed it, James’ season was set to make history for the franchise, but was plagued with various controversies as old pictures of the show’s frontrunnner Rachael Kirkconnell at an “Old South-themed fraternity formal” resurfaced. The controversy broke the show wide open, with then Bachelor-host Chris Harrison stepping away from the series after receiving pushback for publicly defending Kirkconnell’s past actions.
Specifically saying that they “let Matt down,” Graebner explained, “That season went wrong on so many levels. We did not protect him as we should have. The finale of that season was the darkest day I’ve had on 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 really sad for me personally.”
Both producers confirm in the interview that casting another Black bachelor is a “priority” for them moving forward to “correct mistakes” from James’ season. The interview comes days before a brand new season of “The Bachelorette” is set to air, which features the first-ever Asian Bachelorette in the series.