The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
‘ The Bachelor’ tangles with issue of race
First Black star of show picks, breaks up with Cumming woman.
ABC’S “The Bachelor” picked its first Black man for its 25th season. Unfortunately, the issue of race became a major reason why he is single again.
Matt James, a 29- year- old New York real estate broker, had a whopping 38 women to choose from this season, which debuted in January. Due to COVID restrictions, the entire season was shot last year on a resort in Farmington, Pennsylvania.
James immediately took a liking to 24- year- old Cumming graphic designer Rachael Kirkconnell. She was equally smitten. Over the episodes, they appeared to have a real connection and he soon told her he was in love with her. She
said likewise.
While the show was airi ng, I nternet sl euths dug up posts that she liked that featured Confederate flags and Qanon conspiracies. Someone then posted photos of Kirkconnell at a sororit y party in 2018 celebrating antebellum plantations.
This created an uproar among fans of the show and Kirkconnell released an Inst agram video apologizing for her past actions. “I’m so sorry,” she said on the video. “I just hope I can earn your forgiveness and your grace through my future actions.”
To make matters worse, long- time “Bachelor” host Chris Harri son defended Kirkconnell’s 2018 photos in a podcast with Rachel Lindsay, an “Extra” TV host and the first Black “Bachelorette.” He later apologized himself and stepped away as host of the show for the time being.
At the end of the pre- taped t wo- hour season finale of “The Bachelor” on Monday night, James chose not to propose to Kirkconnell but instead gave her a rose, hoping they could date first, then possibly get married later.
ABC aired an hour- long “After the Final Rose” special Monday with key players from the season and hired author and former NFL linebacker Emmanuel Acho to replace Harrison as host.
During the episode, James revealed he had broken up with Kirkconnell once he discovered those photos were real.
Kirkconnell admitted to Acho that she did not know at the time she went to that 2018 party that there was anything wrong with the theme, which effectively celebrates slavery. Even after she fell in love with James on the show, she had no idea attending that party would be an issue at all.
For James, this ignorance was too much to deal with. “Rachael may not understand what it means to be Black in America,” he told Acho.
When Acho asked him why he didn’t choose to stay with her and help educate her on race and being Black, he said he wasn’t the right person to be her teacher. He said she had to work on those issues on her own.
James also skirted the question of any possible reconciliation, only saying that she had to “do the work.”
The producers then brought the former couple together on camera. It was tense and awkward.
Acho: “How hard is this on you to think the woman you love and loved, so torn up over hurting you and over losing you?”
James: “Umm... It’s heartbreaking. It’s devastating. It’s just disappointing.”
Acho: “What else do you want to share with her?”
James was silent for more than 30 seconds, an eternity for any TV show.
After a commercial break, he finally spoke to Kirkconnell. “The most disappointing thing for me was having to explain to you why what I saw was problematic and why I was so upset. That’s why it was problematic. When I’m in a relationship, it means I’m committed to that person... When I questioned our relationship, it was in the context of you not fully understanding my Blackness and what it means to be a Black man in America and what it would mean for our kids when I saw those things floating around the Internet.”
“It broke my heart because this is the last conversation I thought we would be having. I didn’t sign up to have this conversation,” he added. “And I knew that I had to take a step back for you to put in the work you outlined you needed to do. That’s something you need to do on your own. That’s why we can’t be in a relationship.”
She apologized, but it was clearly too little, too late.
“You are the only reason I decided to do the show,” she said. “That includes every single part of you. That obviously includes you being a Black man. I never experienced a love like this. I don’t see anyone else out there for me. At this point, I don’t see how I can have these same feelings for someone else.”