Close, but no cigar.
And no history, either.
Late last week, ABC announced that it had finally given in to public pressure and named its first-ever African-American lead of The Bachelor.
It took protests around the country over police brutality, and then a widely-signed petition by fans of the franchise, but the news finally broke on Friday:
Matt James will anchor The Bachelor Season 25!
The decision has mostly been met with positive reviews by residents of Bachelor Nation, as most viewers have agreed for ages that it had been long past time for a black man to pretend to fall in love on this series.
But here's the thing, according to some critics of the move:
There has been a handsome and charming black man just sitting around and waiting for the call that eventually ended up going to James.
Hello, ABC? What about Mike Johnson?!?!?!?!?!?!?
This beloved suitor nearly won Hannah Brown's heart on The Bachelorette, and then flirted hard with Demi Lovato on social media -- and it really seemed like a given that he'd nab the historic honor that went Matt's way.
What happened?
Especially when he was reportedly so close to being chosen over Peter Weber?
We might never know, but Mike doesn't want his fans to be upset. Or to feel sorry for him.
There are far bigger injustices in the world, you know?
“I just wanna give a huge shout-out to Matt James as the new Bachelor. Congratulations, bro! I definitely [texted] him earlier, but I wanna show him love and shout him out publicly as well,” Johnson has said in an Instagram video.
“I wanna give also a huge shout-out to ABC. They listened to us. … I’m giving you guys a shout-out — the fans. Love you guys so much. They listened to you guys.
"You guys marched and, like, sent all these emails, I’m sure, and tagged Chris [Harrison] and tagged [creator] Mike Fleiss and tagged everybody that be, and they listened to you guys. [I] wanna say give yourself a pat on the back, seriously.
"That’s amazing. Your guys’ voices are definitely being heard.”
Mike really does sound too good to be true at times, doesn't he?
“Don’t feel bad for me at all,” he added.
“I am just so elated. I have so many things coming down the pipeline. I hope that you enjoy my book. I have so much to talk about in it. And just, quite honestly, be happy, baby. Don’t say nothing bad about my homie.
"Matt’s gonna do a great job. And just know that they listened to us. We got a black lead, which is an amazing thing.”
A full-on hype man for the franchise, Johnson even used his aforementioned video to promote Clare Crawley's season of The Bachelor.
Which is definitely happening, folks.
“Let’s not forget, baby [Clare Crawley’s] coming first," said Mike.
"So, baby, we love you. We can’t wait for you to find your spouse. And then, Matt, do your thing, homie.”
Rachel Lindsay said last week that she questioned producers as to why they did not choose Johnson for The Bachelor last year.
“They do all kinds of background checks and vet things out,” the ex-Bachelorette told Entertainment Tonight.
“I have no idea what the reason was, but they have it. I’m told they have a reason.”
That's interesting and cryptic, but we agree with Mike:
Let's focus on the positives! Matt seems pretty awesome, doesn't it?