The internet is reeling over an explosive video posted by Joey Kirchner from season two “Bachelor in Paradise Canada” who went all the way off on a wedding boutique who he claims discriminated against his soon to be wife, a Black woman.
Let me tell you something, they messed with the wronnng white man’s woman.
In the viral TikTok video, Kirchner recounted how instead of hearing about what was supposed to be the most magical day for his fiancé, Tessa Tookes, she told him about a horrid moment of embarrassment. Kirchner said Tookes stepped into a wedding dress shop excitedly looking to pick out her wedding dress when she laid eyes on what she believed was the one. Suddenly, she was met with a disappointing comment regarding her purchase.
Kirhcner said the store worker informed Tookes of her two options for the undergarment: the standard nude which was free or an undergarment that would be dyed to match her brown skin which came with an extra charge. Mr. Kirchner was livid to hearing that, to say the least.
“Excuse my French but are you fist f-cking me?! You’re telling me it’s free to be white but if my bride has a different skin tone than white, she has to pay extra money to get the undergarment to match her skin tone?!” he said in the TikTok. “How f-cked is that in 2024 that the standard which is free is nude - but they decided to make white nude the standard.”
That extra cost wasn’t just a couple dollars either. Tookes told USA TODAY she would have to pay an additional $200 to make the undergarment brown. She said the incident left her feeling uncomfortable and transported her back to the days in high school when she had to color her ballet shoes in makeup and dye her tights to make them match her skin.
“I was not acutely aware of my blackness until [that moment]. It was incredibly isolating, and I felt very othered,” she told the outlet. She said she retreated from speaking up for herself in fear of being perceived as a bridezilla but also because it didn’t feel fair “having to defend your skin tone.”
Unfortunately, that’s just our reality existing as Black women. If it’s not the skin, it’s our hair or something else that goes against the European standards of beauty.
However, it wasn’t just the incident at hand that had social media reeling but the fact that her husband, a white man, was aware enough of the racist implications of this incident to acknowledge it and speak up about it - publicly.