‘The Bachelor’ Finally Addresses Racist Comments WOC Contestants Face
As season 24 of The Bachelor comes to an end, on last night’s episode of “The Women Tell All,” the show finally addressed an important topic that was never discussed on live television
Photo: Instagram/@ therachlindsay
As season 24 of The Bachelor comes to an end, on last night’s episode of “The Women Tell All,” the show finally addressed an important topic that was never discussed on live television. What I thought was going to be another typical catty episode about who did what to whom and who said what, actually ended up to be a serious segment about racism. The sad part is I almost missed it.
The segment occurred during the last minutes of the show, after the blooper reel, which is disrespectful considering the severity of the topic. But nonetheless, former Bachelorette Rachel Lindsay appeared on stage with host Chris Harrison, which was odd because they already announced the new Bachelorette for next season. However, Harrison said they wanted to discuss hate comments that women of color contestants face when they appear on the show.
Rachel Lindsay always has to do the hard stuff in this franchise. but goddamnit she is the strongest person on earth i am always in awe #TheBachelor #WomenTellAll
— @thebachdiaries (@thebachdiaries) March 3, 2020
“I’m never at a loss of words or opinions, as we know, but I’m really nervous right now,” Lindsay told Harrison. “The issue that we’re gonna discuss today is sadly something that most of us have experienced. That’s online harassment, and it’s hate, and it’s so unfortunate because people have become so comfortable being mean and meaner than ever on social media.”
Lindsay went on to read vile comments that were directed at her, other black contestants, Sydney Hightower, who is of mixed race, and Tammy Ly, who is Vietnamese.
The Bachelor may be trash TV but Rachel Lindsay calling out racism and hate speech on ‘the women tell’ all rn is sooo valuable
— claire (@ClaireWolters) March 3, 2020
One message read, “No one cares that you’re a half n—er, Mexican bitch.”
Another read, “Of course you pull the black card. You’re so f*cking jealous holy sh*t. Stop being a jealous bitch it doesn’t look good on you, and you need all the help you can get looking good because you’re the ugliest girl in the house.”
“I’m shaking,” Lindsay said while reading the comments. She was visibly emotional during the segment, as were the other women affected. “When you’re bullied for the way that you were born or the color of your skin… that’s something that’s not a choice, and that’s something that you can’t change.”
Hightower went on to say that it was vital for her to address this issue, primarily because the public needs to know what is happening and that it cannot go any longer.
“I felt so strongly about this and having this moment at the end to talk about those things because I dealt with that directly. I’ve dealt with it my whole life, but when you’re put to that magnitude, it hits you just a little bit different, and it’s one of those things where you just have to be strong in it, but it’s not okay,” Hightower said in an interview with Variety. “This has to stop. Nothing that we did on the show deserves that.”
