‘Bachelor’ fans have been talking about diversity issues for years - now they’re at their breaking point
When Myah Genung saw the disastrous interview between “The Bachelor” host Chris Harrison and former franchise star Rachel Lindsay, she was reminded of a saying: “I’m shocked, but I’m not surprised.”
“If you even just pay attention to some of the interviews that Chris Harrison has given over the years, his responses were always in defense of why (they didn’t have a lead of color) instead of how this is something that needs to happen,” says Genung, who works as an associate director of industry relations at the University of Southern California’s Annenberg School for Communications and Journalism. “Almost like, ‘We have a winning formula right now. Why are you asking us to be something that we aren’t?’”
Genung has been a fan - and a critic - of the franchise for years. An avid “Bachelor” viewer since she was a preteen, her hopeless romantic side melted at the show’s premise. What started off as a guilty-pleasure watch became a vehicle of critique for Genung and other fans of color to gossip about and deep dive into issues of racism and sexism in the show, all in the same breath.
In pockets of the show’s widereaching online “presence in groups such as Brett’s Bachelor Buds, formed and moderated on Facebook by by “Bachelor” Twitter personality Brett Vergara, and r/ TheBachelor_POC subreddit have a through-line of comfort for many viewers of color: validation.
“As a Black viewer, I can’t escape that aspect,” Genung says. “I can’t watch the shows without that lens of critical analysis.”
Fans of color have long understood that “The Bachelor” wasn’t quite made for them. The optics of the show are “embarrassingly White,” as this newspaper has previously described, and others have criticized its slow, often nonexistent strides in representation. But these fans see through the tiresome tokenization in the franchise’s belated attempts at inclusivity and want visible, genuine change on a series they hate to love and love to hate.
The franchise’s laundry list of issues - which include contestants of color rarely making it to the final rounds and a dismissed lawsuit alleging discrimination against people of color - culminated last week in a much-maligned interview between Harrison and Lindsay. After Harrison was called out for interrupting and talking over her, and he walked back comments in which he asked for “grace” toward this season’s front-runner Rachael Kirkconnell’s racially insensitive actions, he announced a leave of absence from the franchise.
Everyday discussions on these online forums include big news like Harrison’s temporary departure, but also allow for rants and raves that let participants feel they’re not alone for being invested in (and disturbed by) issues surrounding the series. Yes, others also felt strange about former Bachelorette Kaitlyn Bristowe, a White woman, promoting a hair vitamin by likening her relationship with her tresses to Chelsea Vaughn’s, a Black contestant on James’s season who had a vulnerable on-air conversation about her decision to shave her head. Yes, others thought Hannah Brown’s Instagram apology was not enough after she was recorded singing along to a track that included the n-word.
Brett Vergara sees the conversations in the group as unavoidable and important - “a mirror of society, for better or for worse” - and openly welcomes the discussion in his own group.
“If I’m casually watching with my parents, and (the contestants and lead) are talking about Black Lives Matter, we can have a more natural discussion than me bringing that up out of the blue,” says Vergara, who runs the Brett’s Bachelor Buds Facebook group. “The show’s like a conduit for entering some of those conversations.”
“These issues still exist in this country, outside of my liberal New York bubble,” Vergara says. “I think it’s important for a franchise (like this) with such a huge megaphone to middle America to have messages around Black Lives Matter and mental health. It’s reaching the people who need to be reached.” And while other “Bachelor” groups like Bristowe’s “Off The Vine” and the main r/ TheBachelor Reddit thread deprioritize talk about politics, religion and race, Vergara’s space and r/ TheBachelor_POC do the opposite.