Rachel Lindsay continues to call out the franchise that made her famous.
The former Bachelorette, who has recently been thrust into the national spotlight as a result of the nationwide protests and the related push to diversify this program, appeared this week on a special Watch What Happens Live on Bravo.
A virtual episode of the talk show, that is.
Speaking to Andy Cohen and Senator Cory Booker, Lindsay said she "definitely experienced" racism during her run as The Bachelorette.
"More so when it came to picking the men," Liindsay said of these kinds of remarks, explaining in more detail:
"And then at the end, my husband [Bryan Abasolo] 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 recently said she's ashamed to be associated with The Bachelorette due to its lack of diversity over the years.
And then even after Matt James was chosen as the first-ever black Bachelor, Lindsay refused to give the show too many props.
"I hate that it is in response -- or it seems like it is a knee-jerk reaction and in response -- to what happened in our society, what happened with George Floyd, and the pressure that you're getting from society," Rachel said of this casting.
In other words?
This was a fine first step, but ABC must do a whole lot more to prove its serious about such a significant topic.
"I did have a racist contestant on my season," Lindsay also said on Watch What Happens Live, refusing to name him, but adding:
"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, who ran for President last year, then heaped even more pressure on ABC, saying he hopes producers won't be "opportunists" in that regard or "try to hype that storyline" again.
Fans have actually expressed similar concerns.
Back when Colton Underwood was The Bachelor, all we heard about him over and over and over was how he was a virgin.
Let's all hope the network treats James as a whole person and not just as their token African-American star.
A couple weeks ago, Lindsay cited the awful George Floyd killing and said:
"It's almost like a man had to die in such a gruesome and public way for us to get a Black Bachelor. That's what it feels like."
In a separate statement, Lindsay added:
Until we see action to address the systemic racism within the franchise, the casting news today is equivalent to the trend of posting a black box on your social media account without other steps taken to dismantle the systems of injustice.
I look forward to hearing more about the additional efforts the franchise plans to make towards change.
