Former Bachelorette Rachel Lindsay has repeatedly called on The Bachelor to do better when it comes to diversity—even calling it “embarrassing” to be affiliated with the series. (She is the show’s only Black Bachelorette. Last week, it was announced that Matt James will be the first Black Bachelor in the franchise’s 18-year history.)
Since becoming the first Black lead in season 13 of The Bachelorette, Lindsay has made it a point to hold ABC accountable for a lack of POC behind and in front of the camera. On June 17, she appeared on Watch What Happens Live to discuss her experience on the show with host Andy Cohen and guest Senator Cory Booker.
When asked by Cohen if she experienced racism from the producers or cast of her season, Lindsay said, “From the audience.” She continued, “I definitely experienced it. More so when it came to picking the men, and then at the end, my husband is Colombian, so I got a lot of racism towards the fact that we were in an interracial relationship. Just a lot of nasty messages, trolling.” (Lindsay married Bryan Abasolo, the winning contestant from her season, in 2019.)
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“I did have a racist contestant on my season,” Lindsay continued without mentioning a specific name. “Which is one of the things that I’m fighting for, for Matt James as the first Black Bachelor, for them to do a better job at vetting contestants. You need a person of color in the decision room making decisions so that doesn’t happen to them.”
Booker then brought up the very viable theory that a storyline between a racist contestant and a Black lead could be milked by producers as a juicy storyline. But Lindsay said, at least for her season, she was told it was purely a vetting issue.
