‘They were inconsiderate’
Bachelorette contestant tries to defend his tweets
You never want to be the star of The Bachelorette: The Men Tell All. The annual special, which airs the week before the show’s finale, reunites the men who were eliminated throughout the season. The producers always focus on the most-despised contestant of the season, and this year, the choice was obvious.
That would be Lee Garrett, a 30-year-old singer from Nashville. Garrett made headlines this summer for not only being the show’s villain but also for his Twitter feed, which featured tweets including “What’s the difference between the NAACP and the KKK? One has a sense of shame to cover their racist ass faces.”
Screenshots from Garrett’s (now-private) Twitter account surfaced about a week after the show premiered in May. One question is why ABC cast him in the first place, let alone this season, which features the franchise’s first black star, Rachel Lindsay.
Garrett caused problems in The Bachelorette house early on, as he feuded with multiple contestants — nearly all of whom, as cast members were quick to point out, were people of colour.
Garrett repeatedly clashed with Kenny King, a 35-year-old wrestler, who called Garrett “an alternative facts piece of garbage.” Garrett chortled on camera as he got under King’s skin and labelled him “aggressive.”
All of these issues were dissected during The Men Tell All; at one point, King said he felt Garrett’s actions were based in insecurity rather than racism. Things boiled over when host Chris Harrison read some of Garrett’s tweets out loud. He read the KKK-NAACP comparison twice and also a few of his tweets about women: “Guys, when is the last time you actually saw a pretty feminist?”
Garrett replied, “I feel like I have a lot to learn in that area. And, I feel like I said things that I should not have said. They were inconsiderate.”
The other cast members looked skeptical. “Everybody’s sorry when they get caught,” King said. “But, if you didn’t get caught, would you be sorry?”
Anthony Battle, a 26-year-old software manager, brought the conversation to a halt:
“Lee, I understand where you’re coming from, but I feel like you haven’t acknowledged exactly what we’re trying to forgive you for. I think you’re just saying, ‘I’ve been a bad person,’ but you’re not acknowledging the kind of invisible racism in your mind,” Battle said. “You may not be doing it intentionally, but ... it’s still motivating your actions. The racism that is ingrained in your behaviour to the point of invisibility is still pushing you to behave in a certain way toward Kenny, towards Eric, towards me in a way that you don’t even recognize.”
Garrett eventually said he was wrong, and he still had a lot to learn. “I’m sorry for — saying things,” he said.
“That tweet was racist, and I denounce it,” Garrett concluded.
Later, Lindsay came out onstage and addressed Garrett.
“I just feel like you had such an amazing opportunity to be surrounded by different people and different cultures, and you didn’t take advantage of that. I hope that in watching it back, you realize that you were a part of something so great,” Lindsay said. “But, in case you didn’t — please know that you can exit stage left and meet me backstage, and I’d be more than happy to give you a black history lesson and a lesson on women’s rights.”