Theatrical race discussion ends with small victory
The show: The Bachelorette, Season 13, “Men Tell All” episode The moment: The apology
Eliminated contestant Lee, a musician from Nashville, is in the hot seat as the “Men Tell All.” The others are calling him out on his racist tweet (he compared the NAACP to the KKK). Eliminated contestant Josiah sits beside Lee.
“If you’re tweeting about Black people who fought and died so I can be on this stage next to you,” Josiah asks, “and you’re comparing them to the KKK, people who hung (sic) my ancestors, why are you trying to date a woman who looks like me?”
Lee dissembles. Racism “bothers me morally,” he says. “I was irresponsible.”
The men aren’t buying it. “You’re not acknowledging what we’re trying to forgive you for,” contestant Anthony says. “Your invisible, ingrained racism.”
The men keep asking. Lee keeps resisting. Finally he says it: “That tweet was racist . . . I denounce that Lee. I want to learn.”
Rachel Lindsay will give out the final rose Monday night. But whoever wins will matter less than this conversation, which played out over four full segments last week.
It was a deliberate, likely scripted, public, verbal flogging. The cocky white dude from Tennessee pinned centre stage. The 17 other guys and the studio audience shaking their heads as he equivocated. His eventual admission: “It hurts, but there are things a lot of people can learn.” Cue the applause.
On the one hand, it was pure theatre, the franchise using Lee as a scapegoat to atone for the racism it’s allowed all these years. On the other hand, he deserved it. There are worse things to witness than a racist apologizing. The Season 13 finale of The Bachelorette airs Monday at 8 p.m. on City. Read a recap Tuesday morning at thestar.com/ television. Johanna Schneller is a media connoisseur who zeroes in on popculture moments. She usually appears Monday through Thursday.