Bachelor producers are being honest about Matt James‘ season of the show. In an interview with Los Angeles TimesExecutive producers Claire Freeland and Bennett Graebner admitted mistakes in the season that featured the show’s first black lead role.
“I’ll be very frank – we let Matt down. That season went wrong on so many levels,” Graebner said. “We didn’t protect him like we should.”
James’ season was mired in controversy when photos emerged of the eventual winner Rachael Kirkconnell at an Old South plantation themed party while in college. She later apologized It is asked people to stop defending your actions.
Later long-time franchise host Chris Harrison defended Kirkconnell’s past racist actions, encouraging people to offer their “grace” and speaking out against the “woke police” during an interview with the former Bachelorette Rachel Lindsay. He later apologized and was replaced as host by Jesse Palmer.
Although James finished his season committing to a relationship with Kirkconnell, the pair revealed in the live portion of the finale that they gave up amid his racism scandal.
“The end of that season was the darkest day I’ve had in this franchise,” Graebner said. “Here was this great black man, and we should be celebrating his love story. Instead, what we saw was a man burdened and oppressed by issues of racism. It was very sad for me personally.”
Possibly, James and Kirkconnell reconciled It is we were together since then. When promoting your 2022 book First impressions, James told ET of the franchise, “In essence, it’s not a bad show. There are bad characters, there are things that happen that make the experience different for everyone.”
“From everything I’ve gained from it, from a relationship standpoint and personal growth and family bonding, I can’t go around and say there are things you wish you could change and conversations you wish you could have again,” James added. “There were important people in that franchise who helped me, so I’ll be forever grateful for that.”
However, the franchise’s struggles with racism that preceded James’s season continued.
“It’s hard to say out loud that people of color didn’t see themselves represented, that they didn’t see The Bachelor franchise as a safe place,” said Graebner. “We have not had black leadership in this franchise for 15 years, and that is inexcusable. This created a vicious cycle and it took a lot of work to get back to a place where we feel like we are at least working towards the positive.”
According to Freeland, “The core value of this show is that everyone deserves to find love, regardless of race, ethnicity, background, faith. The only way to do that in a truly fulfilling way is to have people on the show who reflect the country we live in.”
Although there have since been leaders of color — The Bachelorette had black tracks Michelle Young It is Charity Lawsonand is preparing for his first season with Asian Americans lead Jenn Tran — there hasn’t been another Black Bachelor since James. Graebner and Freeland agreed that it’s a “priority” to cast a Black Bachelor for an upcoming season.
“We’re not always going to get it right. We’re going to make mistakes as we go along. But we’re not going to shy away from difficult conversations,” the former said, before the latter addressed fans of the franchise who might not be happy with a more diverse show.
“We can’t change the minds of people who aren’t interested in this new direction. What we do have the power to do is change the show,” Freeland said. “There’s a reason this show has been around for 20 years. The dream and desire for true love will never go out of style. Hopefully people can look back on the last few years and see that we are intent and taking action to make change.”
Graebner agreed, adding, “We know we’re not there. We have a long way to go. But we’re committed to getting there. If you don’t want to see a Black love story, an Asian-American love story, an interracial love story, then maybe Bachelor Nation isn’t for you.”
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