Chris Harrison is not presenting the first season of ‘The Bachelorette’ for the first time in the history of the franchise. of race.
Mr. Harrison, 49, is replaced by Tayshia Adams, who becomes the first color woman to present a season of the show, and Kaitlyn Bristowe. Both are former Bachelorette leaders.
In a statement, Warner Horizon and ABC Entertainment said they supported Harrison “in the work he is committed to doing”, and promised to continue to seek greater equality and inclusion within the franchise.
“We are committed to improving the BIPOC representation of our crew, including among the executive producer groups,” Warner Horizon and ABC Entertainment said with an acronym meaning black, native and colored. “These are important steps to bring about fundamental change so that our concession is a celebration of love that is reflected in our world.”
Mr. Harrison announced last month that he was stepping down from the current season of “The Bachelor” after making comments to reject a contestant’s racist behavior.
The decision to host two women also follows years of criticism of the show for portraying women as married or as small and unstable. Many of his supporters, members of ‘Bachelor Nation’, also pushed for the program for years to include non-white clues and more non-white participants.
Last month, ABC said that Emmanuel Acho, a former NFL player and author of the book ‘Uncomfortable Conversations With a Black Man’, will be presented with an hour-long specialist from The Bachelor on March 15.
The announcement that Mr. Harrison would not host ‘The Bachelorette’ was the latest development in a turbulent season, which was to provide pioneering work by the first black male lead, Matt James, in the history of ‘Bachelor’.
For mr. James there were two black leads on ‘The Bachelorette’: Rachel L. Lindsay, who was announced as the lead role in 2017, and Mrs. Adams, whose father is African-American and whose mother is Mexican, and who was recently a mid-season replacement.
James’s season was praised for the diverse cast, but many viewers were appalled at the producers’ decision to focus on fights between the women instead of the relationships between the contestants and James.
This disillusionment grew in outrage when offensive social media posts and photos of one of the contestants, Rachael Kirkconnell, emerged.
In a message it me. Kirkconnell liked a photo with a Confederate flag. Another photo on social media showed her attending a ballet-themed ball “Old South” in 2018.
Last month, Mr. Mrs. Harrison. Kirkconnell, who is one of the two finalists in the program, when Ms. Lindsay asked him about the ball during an interview on ‘Extra’. Mr. Harrison said ’50 million people did it in 2018. ‘
“Rachel, is this a good look in 2018 or is it not a good look in 2021?” Mr. Harrison asked during the interview and pointed out that such parties would be acceptable in 2018.
Me. Lindsay replied, ‘It never looks good, because she’s celebrating the Old South. If I were to go to that party, what would I represent at that party? ”
Mr. Harrison, who regularly spoke during the interview about me. Lindsay spoke, accusing the “awake police” of being behind Kirkconnell and acting as ‘judge, jury, executioner’.
“I do not know how you are equipped, if you have never done this before, to be alert enough, to be eloquent enough, to be ready to deal with it,” he said.
Me. Kirkconnell apologized. Mr. Harrison also apologized on Instagram after the interview, saying he defended it by apologizing for historical racism.
“I called the term ‘vigilant police’ unacceptable,” he said. Harrison wrote on Instagram. ‘I’m ashamed of how uninformed I was. I was so wrong. To the black community, to the BIPOC community: I’m very sorry. My words were harmful. ”