Old School. Biblically Independent.
By Emma Chance | News | June 27, 2024
After utterly dropping the ball when asked about their legacy of race issues at a press conference earlier this year, some Bachelor producers are finally admitting to the franchise’s mistakes.
“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,” said executive producer Bennett Graebner to the Los Angeles Times. “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.”
He admitted that they’d “let Matt down,” referring to the twenty-fifth Bachelor and first black leading man, Matt James, adding, “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 the issues of racism. It was really sad for me personally.” Boy, if it was sad for you, I wonder how it felt for him!
Executive producer Claire Freeland added, “The core value to this show is that everybody deserves to find love,” proving she’s never watched an episode, “Regardless of race, ethnicity, background, faith.” She had to tack on “faith” at the end there or else their core viewership, Christian wine moms, would revolt. “The only way we can do that in a truly fulsome way is to have people on the show that reflect the country we live in.”
They both said it was their “priority” to cast another Black Bachelor but didn’t say when that would happen.
Can you tell I’m tired of hearing this bullsh**? Graebner at least sounds sincere, but Freeland regurgitated the old party line about what our country looks like and somehow managed to make it sound worse than ever before. You wanna know what our country looks like, babe? It’s culturally diverse, yes, but also sexually and physically diverse—it’s queer and fat and messy, all the things the Bachelor franchise is not. Even Bachelor in Paradise favors straight, cis-gendered, conventionally gorgeous, faith-based, and family-oriented couples. Casting a Black Bachelor is one step, sure, but as long as that Bachelor is on your white-washed, conservative-pandering shows, he’s still several steps behind.
