Rachel Lindsay, The Bachelor franchise's first Black lead, is speaking out against the series' "toxic audience."
Lindsay, who became the first Black lead of The Bachelorette in 2017, published an essay Monday in Vulture about her experiences in the reality show franchise and the departure of longtime host Chris Harrison. Harrison exited after, in an interview with Lindsay, controversially defending a contestant who attended an antebellum-themed formal, and Lindsay writes that she received "death threats" and "personal attacks" in the wake of their conversation.
"The fandom had always had a complicated relationship with me," she writes. "But it really started to turn against me after that interview. The franchise has spent 19 years cultivating a toxic audience. They have constantly given it a product it wants: a midwestern/southern white, blonde, light-eyed Christian."
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Lindsay adds that "not all viewers are like that," but she divides Bachelor fans into two groups: the "Bachelor Nation" and the "Bachelor Klan," the latter of which is "hateful, racist, misogynistic, xenophobic, and homophobic." She also says she had to hire protection due to the death threats and ultimately "couldn't even pretend to want to be involved" anymore.
Speaking about her Harrison interview, Lindsay writes that she "felt disrespected" as he "showed his true self" by defending Rachael Kirkconnell, and she identifies this as the moment she "knew my relationship with The Bachelor was over." Going back to 2018, though, she says she was "uneasy" about the franchise, feeling as if it had "checked off a box with me" and was now going "right back to doing what was comfortable and easy." Despite her hopes of lasting change from The Bachelor, Lindsay adds that the Harrison interview made her think that "this is a charade."
Read the full essay, in which Lindsay also voices frustrations over her season of The Bachelorette and discusses being the "first person representing Black people to [the franchise's] lily-white audience," at Vulture.
-
September 13 editorial cartoonsCartoons Saturday's political cartoons include court-approved racial profiling and America's moral compass
-
Giorgio Armani obituary: designer revolutionised the business of fashionIn the Spotlight ‘King Giorgio’ came from humble beginnings to become a titan of the fashion industry and redefine 20th century clothing
-
Kim Jong Un’s triumph: the rise and rise of North Korea’s dictatorIn the Spotlight North Korean leader has strengthened ties with Russia and China, and recently revealed his ‘respected child’ to the world
-
Florida erases rainbow crosswalk at Pulse nightclubSpeed Read The colorful crosswalk was outside the former LGBTQ nightclub where 49 people were killed in a 2016 shooting
-
Trump says Smithsonian too focused on slavery's illsSpeed Read The president would prefer the museum to highlight 'success,' 'brightness' and 'the future'
-
Trump to host Kennedy Honors for Kiss, StalloneSpeed Read Actor Sylvester Stallone and the glam-rock band Kiss were among those named as this year's inductees
-
White House seeks to bend Smithsonian to Trump's viewSpeed Read The Smithsonian Institution's 21 museums are under review to ensure their content aligns with the president's interpretation of American history
-
Charlamagne Tha God irks Trump with Epstein talkSpeed Read The radio host said the Jeffrey Epstein scandal could help 'traditional conservatives' take back the Republican Party
-
CBS cancels Colbert's 'Late Show'Speed Read 'The Late Show with Stephen Colbert' is ending next year
-
Shakespeare not an absent spouse, study proposesspeed read A letter fragment suggests that the Shakespeares lived together all along, says scholar Matthew Steggle
-
New Mexico to investigate death of Gene Hackman, wifespeed read The Oscar-winning actor and his wife Betsy Arakawa were found dead in their home with no signs of foul play
