The other thing in Bachelor Nation that became a big story yesterday was the diversity issues being brought up again with Jen’s season rolling out in a couple of weeks. The first Asian American bachelorette we’ve ever had.
First Asian American lead we’ve ever had, man or male, man or woman on this show. And the LA Times did a feature story on this that ran viral. In their newspaper yesterday and this all stemmed from back in, what month was it back in February for the TCA, the television critics association, winter press tour in February, you know, that’s where they rolled out, you know, Gary and Teresa and all this is before their divorce and all that.
And. You know, it’s usually just fluff pieces and just getting advertisers to buy ad spots on your show. But a reporter named Eric Degans from the national public radios, he’s their television critic, asked the executives who were up on stage for ABC at that time. Why does it seem that the bachelor and the bachelorette have such a hard time dealing with Rachel is racial issues in depth and Claire Freeland.
Who is an executive producer on the show said, I can speak to where we are now. So basically I don’t want to talk about the past or horrible track record when it comes to BIPOC contestants. So I don’t want, I don’t want to, I can speak on where we are now, but then the reporter kept pressing and he said, That doesn’t really answer the question.
Why has the bachelor struggled to deal with race, particularly when black people are the stars of the show and two other as executive producers, producers, Bennett Grabener and Jason Ehrlich froze. And after about eight seconds, the reporter, after eight seconds of silence from executive producers said, I guess we have our answer.
So basically. He wrote a very scathing review of that and then the LA Times filed followed up yesterday with all right Let’s dig into more of this and now let’s get them to talk about it. And basically, they apologized for being deer in the headlights during that during the TCA’s and they admitted to We should have been way better on that and should have been more prepared for that question.
So Claire Freeland and Bennett Grabener met with a L. A. Times writer at ABC’s offices in Burbank and expressed their regret about how they responded at the TCA back in February, and they just said, Good luck. We screwed up and Bennett Grabner said, it’s hard to say out loud that people of color didn’t see themselves represented.
They did not see the batch of franchise as a safe place. We didn’t have a black lead in this franchise for 15 years, and that is inexcusable. They created a vicious cycle, and it’s taken a lot of work to get back to a place where we feel at least we’re working for the positive. And it’s like, okay. But I feel like these answers were given back in 2020 when the whole Matt James thing came up.
And he even said Bennett Graymer, his quote about the Matt James season said, I’m going to be really Frank. We let Matt James down. That season went wrong on so many levels. We did not protect him as we should have. The finale of that season was the darkest day I’ve ever had in this franchise. He went on to say, we’re not always going to get it right.
We’re going to make mistakes as we move forward, but we’re not going to shy away from difficult conversations, which is, I guess, a step forward because for the longest time there were no difficult conversations on this show. But we know one of the biggest things with Jen’s season and the day the men were released for her season, what was the biggest response?
We have our first Asian American bachelorette and there’s barely any Asian guys in this cast. What’s the point of that? Not that you have to give her half the cast be Asian, but it was very, very alarming that barely any are Asian this season and even addressed it. The near absence of Asian American suitors in the cast may spark more controversy and Grabner said, that’s on us.
We didn’t do what we needed to do. Our hope is that they will see Jen and realize this is a safe space. We’re not saying it will solve and fix everything, but it is a step. Okay. When this franchise first came out in 2020 with the whole Matt James thing and decided to make him the bachelor and go for their first black lead, they also said, we’re going to be more diverse.
We’re going to be more inclusive. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Has their overall cast. Included more BIPOC contestants, absolutely. I mean, you go back to some of the casts, you know, Brad Womack’s two seasons, there was literally one black woman in 50 women. It was embarrassing. So they have, you know, I will give them credit that they are casting more BIPOC contestants.
Literally they have their first Asian American bachelorette. And yet here they are admitting already that’s on us. We didn’t do what we needed to do. Answering the question about why aren’t there more Asian Americans on your first Asian American Bachelorette season? So clearly you’re still doing the same thing.
You’re still screwing up. You had your first chance, your first Asian American Bachelorette, and you’ve already admitted. Yeah, that’s on us. Didn’t do what we needed to do. Okay, Well, why didn’t you do what you needed to do? Why aren’t there more Asian men on Jen’s season? It’s just, it’s like they’re acknowledging their mistakes, but they’re not doing anything to correct them.
Have you seen anything to correct them? Other than, yes, we are getting more BIPOC contestants. But, I, I don’t see, especially in their first season here, with their first Asian American bachelorette. And then, they kind of end it with this. And I don’t want to say they’re calling out their fans. There was talk about racism in this article about the racism that Rachel received last season, when she got a rose at the final four over Maria and the hate that she got and being called racist names that was addressed.
And again, I, I, I talk about this every season, but I just don’t know what the solution is because trolls are going to be trolls on the internet. You can leave all the statements you want out there. You can. Put out there on Instagram, please. Our contestants are humans. Please be kind, spread love. Trolls are going to be trolls and they’re going to say whatever they want to say to get a rise out of people.
So I don’t even know if there’s really a solution there with toxic bachelor nation. And the actual just dregs of society that come out and say these things to contestants on their Instagram on message boards, you can say, well, I didn’t leave it on their message board. They’re not supposed to see it.
These people read everything. So if you say it and it’s not on their Instagram, just assume that It is on their Instagram because they’re going to see it. So you don’t get a pass for saying it on a message board to all your friends behind screen names that are like jerk off 1, 2, 3, 4. Just don’t say it at all.
How about that? Is that, is that hard? Apparently it is. But Bennett Grabener, executive producer on the show. He’s been there since oh, wait, he said this to end the article. He said, we’ve got a long way to go, but we’re committed to getting there. If you don’t want to see a black love story, an Asian American love story, an interracial love story, then maybe Bachelor Nation isn’t for you.
End quote. It’s a pretty bold claim to make for a show that’s been basically white for 21 years and 48 seasons. It is saying, look, we are going to cast BIPOC contestants, not only as contestants, but as leads going forward. And if you don’t want to see it, then don’t watch. I’m very curious to see how that sits with their fan base.
I’m glad that they said it. Number one, they need to follow through with it because again, just what I repeated a couple of minutes ago. Great, you made your first Asian American Bachelorette, and yet you gave her, what, three? Four? Asian American, any Contestant with some sort of Asian descent? So, say it all you want.
Hey, you don’t want to see a black love story, an Asian American love story, interracial love story, then maybe Bachelor Nation isn’t for you. Okay, you’ve now put that out into the universe. Let’s see if they follow up on it. It’s going to be an interesting next few seasons for this, because it looks like the show is not going anywhere else.
You don’t say something like that. Anyway, thank you all for listening. Really appreciate it. Follow me on Apple podcasts also rate and review, but you got to hit play. That’s the only way it’s going to count as a download. I’m going to talk about drew from survivor being on jeopardy now and getting enough wins to enter the tournament of champions.
I’ll talk about that tomorrow. Along with a plenty of other things to go over. So again, thank you all for listening. Sports daily. We’ll be up in an hour from now. Podcast number three 97 is the interview that I did and Dave Neal chimed in as well on Saturday night’s live stream with Umberto presciato, who is Courtney Robertson’s husband.
He is a, a prosecutor for the state of Arizona and gave his thoughts on the Clayton Eckerd, Laura Owen’s case. And. Also, don’t forget Sunday nights for the next few months, we are going to have a live stream on YouTube. Just go to reality. Steve on YouTube. Find me there. It’s going to be at 8 p. m. Eastern every Sunday night for the next two and a half months and then move on from there and figure out what day we’re going to move it to.
So thank you all for listening. Really appreciate it. And I will talk to you tomorrow. See ya!
