‘Bachelor’ Producers Keep Making the Same Mistake When It Comes to Diversity

It’s been a season of reckoning for the producers of the Bachelor franchise. After utterly dropping the ball in February when questioned about their plans for handling problems of race and diversity going forward, they finally acknowledged the “vicious cycle” of race issues on their shows and promised to do better (though they didn’t say how). Now, they have their first Asian lead of The Bachelorette in Jenn Tran, but even she pointed out the lack of Asian men cast on the show to compete for her heart, calling it “unfortunate.” Asian men and women are probably the least represented across the slate of shows, so it is unfortunate indeed that even casting an Asian lead didn’t make that issue a little more obvious to the powers that be.

“That’s on us. We didn’t do what we needed to do. Our hope is that they will see Jenn and realize this is a safe space. We’re not saying it will solve and fix everything. But it is a step,” said executive producer Bennett Gaebner of the men cast on Tran’s season.

I’m interpreting that to mean he hopes Asian men see an Asian woman on the show and feel encouraged to apply for the next season? So, it’s the show’s fault for not casting Asian men, but it’s the fault of Asian men for not wanting to be cast? He’s almost there! What he should be questioning is why Asian men don’t want to be cast. What is it about the ethos of the show that discourages them from applying, and how can he change that?

But that’s not even the worst part. After the disastrous season that was Matt James’s tenure as the first Black Bachelor, Jodi Baskerville was promoted to executive producer, making her the first Black woman to hold the position. She was EP to Michelle Young when she was Bachelorette and former Bachelorette Tayshia Adams when she was co-hosting.

“Having Jodi there, having another woman of color, if there’s anytime something was concerning or I just wanted to talk about something, she was right there to do that with me [and] make me feel heard, as well as to sit down and have conversations and bring everybody else into those conversations as well,” Young said of Baskerville at the time. “And so I felt like with that, the story is going to be told accurately, is going to be told in a way that all walks of life can understand, but is really going to showcase those diverse love stories.”

Sounds promising! Except, Tran’s season premiered this week, and Baskerville was mysteriously missing from the credits. Come to think of it, they probably could have used Baskerville at all these press events where they’ve been questioned about diversity, and she was nowhere to be found. There’s been no announcement of her leaving the show, and neither the network nor Graebner, who it seems is always around to give stupid answers to these questions, have acknowledged her absence.

This is yet more evidence that they don’t care about diversity, have no plans to address it, and probably punish those who call them out for it. What else could explain Baskerville’s not being included in the credits and their staying mum? She probably signed an NDA; we’ll probably never hear from her again. Bachelor producers keep making the same mistake when it comes to diversity: they cast a person of color as their lead, then ignore the rest. You can’t just lean on representation to save you, you have to be invested in diverse voices in storytelling as well, and in support of those telling the stories. But maybe they don’t want to hear it.