BACHELORETTE star Rachel Lindsay has slammed ABC over Matt James’ talk with his dad and says “absentee fathers is a Black stereotype.”
The 35-year-old revealed she felt “so disturbed” by the way the conversation between the father and son had been shown on TV.
Speaking to Juliet Litman on the most recent episode of the Bachelor Party podcast, Rachel explained her feelings regarding the chat between Matt James and his dad Manny.
“I felt it in my soul and I had to speak out about it because I am so disturbed at what I just watched take place on the Bachelor stage – the conversation between Matt and his father,” she revealed.
Going into more detail, she went on: “What’s the one thing we know about his dad? That he wasn’t around…that’s it. That’s all we know, which if you know anything about stereotypes assigned to particular races – here the Black race – you know that absentee fathers is a stereotype.
“So the fact that that’s all we know about Matt’s dad and one of the few things that we know about Matt.”
Calling out ABC, Rachel went on to criticize the show’s decision to air the deeply personal chat.
She raged: “Who green-lit this is the question. If you have a diversity consultant affiliated, that you keep telling us over and over about and I even praised the fact that you had them, why are things like this still happening?
“The more things change, the more they remain the same and if the Bachelor franchise has shown us anything, it’s that they don’t know how to protect people of color. They only know how to exploit them.”
Rachel added: “This should never have been aired for America to see.”
While the Bachelorette star acknowledged it was important for Matt to speak to his dad about their personal matters, she felt it wasn’t something the rest of the world needed to be involved with.
“This was a conversation that should have just been for Matt…,” she remarked. “It shows that you don’t care about your contestants, specifically the ones of color – the fact that you were more so willing to exploit him and stereotypes within the Black community for what you would call ‘good TV.'”
Rachel went on to reveal that Matt James himself had been unhappy with the direction the show was taking his journey.
“I know for a fact Matt was uncomfortable with this conversation,” she said, “and the fact that it was going to be aired.”
The Bachelor has been at the center of a racism scandal recently after host Christ Harrison defended contestant Rachael Kirkconnell’s “old south” photo.
Rachael K. is currently competing to win over Matt James on The Bachelor.
During an interview with former Bachelorette Rachel on Extra, he said at the time: “We all need to have a little grace, a little understanding, a little compassion.
“Because I’ve seen some stuff online… again, this ‘judge, jury, executioner’ thing where people are just tearing this girl’s life apart.”
The host added: “I haven’t heard Rachael speak on this yet, and until I actually hear this woman have a chance to speak, who am I to say [anything]?”
After receiving backlash for the statement, Chris said he was ashamed of his comments and said he was temporarily stepping down as the host of the franchise.
Rachel was forced to leave social media after a few members of Bachelor Nation attacked her for disrupting the show.
The reality TV star returned returned to Instagram this week after accepting Harrison’s apology.
The Sun revealed that Chris won’t be coming back as producers make the effort to add diversity to all levels of the dating show.
The source shared: “There’s been big staffing changes on all levels. More people of color have been hired as producers, editors, sound engineering, administrative positions and everything in between.
“ABC is also implementing more diversity training for everyone involved on the show.”
