Bachelorette pick a blow for diversity

ABC’s choice for its next Bachelorette has reawakened the lingering controversy over the franchise’s lack of cultural diversity.

Runner-up Joelle “JoJo” Fletcher got the nod on Monday’s Bachelor finale after-show. Reports had surfaced that Caila Quinn, a Bachelor contestant who is half-Filipino, would get the call.

ABC, which declined to comment on Tuesday, may claim Fletcher is indeed a different kind of Bachelorette. Her mother is Persian and escaped from revolutionary Iran, which may give her more claim to diversity than the typical Bachelorette. Still, her selection is unlikely to quench the criticism surrounding the franchise and its mostly white version of romantic fantasy.