'Bachelor Nation' Producers Talk Past Racism In the Franchise & Correcting Mistakes Moving Forward

Producers on The Bachelor and The Bachelorette are acknowledging the racism in the past on the popular dating franchise.

If you recall, there was not a POC Bachelor until season 25 with Matt James, which premiered in 2021, while Rachel Lindsay was the first Black Bachelorette a few years prior, in the 13th season premiering in 2017.

The Bachelorette has since had several women of color, including the upcoming season 21 lead, Jenn Tran.

In an interview ahead of the premiere of her season, executive producers Claire Freeland and Bennett Graebner opened up about the franchise’s lack of diversity and inclusion in its leads, as well as the its failure to protect its stars.

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“It’s hard to say out loud, that people of color didn’t see themselves represented, that they did not see The Bachelor franchise as a safe place,” Bennett told Variety. “We didn’t have a Black lead in this franchise for 15 years, and that’s inexcusable. It created a vicious cycle, and it’s taken a lot of work to get back to a place where we feel at least we’re working for the positive.”

Following Matt‘s casting, his season was plagued with controversy, with frontrunner Rachel Kirkconnell, who is still with Matt to this day, having photos resurface of her at fraternity formal on a plantation. Then, former host Chris Harrison made insensitive comments that minimalized the damage the photos made in an interview with Rachel Lindsay.

“I’m going to be really frank — we let Matt down,” Bennett shared. “That season went wrong on so many levels. We did not protect him as we should have. The finale of that season was the darkest day I’ve had on this franchise. Here was this great Black man, and we should have been celebrating his love story. Instead, what we saw was a man burdened and overwhelmed by issues of racism. It was really sad for me personally.”

Now, the producers have stated that it is a priority to cast another Black Bachelor in the near future and correct the mistakes made in the past during Matt‘s season.

They also acknowledge a more recent instance where the past year’s Bachelor contestant Rachel Nance shared the racism she faced online during the “Women Tell All” episode, with current host Jesse Palmer apologizing for what she went through, but acknowledging that it was in fact, racism.

EP Claire Freeland said, “We have reflected on it, and a big blind spot was not naming what it was: racism. That was another missed opportunity for us. Our intention was to bring light toward what Rachel was going through. But we have to do better.”

“We’re not always going to get it right,” Bennett added. “We’re going to make mistakes as we move forward. But we’re not going to shy away from difficult conversations.”

If you missed it, meet the 25 suitors vying for Jenn Tran‘s heart on the upcoming new season of The Bachelorette, which premieres on Monday, July 8th.

Speaking of Rachel Lindsay, she recently opened up about her “unnecessarily messy” divorce from husband Bryan Abasolo, who was the winner of her season.