Rachel Kirkconnell and Matt James on season 25 of “The Bachelor.”
ABC
After The single person’While issues surrounding race were in the spotlight when the ABC reality series premiered earlier this year, the show’s producers are now acknowledging previous missteps.
“It’s hard to say out loud that people of color didn’t see themselves represented, that they didn’t see themselves The single person franchise as a safe place,” franchise executive producer Bennett Graebner told the Los Angeles Times “We haven’t had a black main character in this franchise for 15 years, and it’s inexcusable. It created a vicious cycle, and it took a lot of work to get back to a point where we at least felt like we were working toward the positive,” franchise general manager David E. Smith said in an article. published online Wednesday.
Graebner and colleagues Bachelor EPs Jason Ehrlich and Claire Freeland’s interview with the publication about how the show handles race follows NPR reporter Eric Deggans interviewing the trio on the topic at the TCA in February. Deggans asked why the show has “struggled to deal with racial issues in depth,” in light of previous Black leads Rachel Lindsay and Matt James, who have voiced concerns about how the franchise addresses race.
At the TCA event, none of the lawmakers directly answered the question, and after a period of silence, Deggans joked, “I guess we have our answer.”
In conversation with the Los Angeles Times, Freeland said, “The core value of this show is that everyone deserves to find love, regardless of race, ethnicity, background, or faith.” She added: “The only way to do this in a truly comprehensive way is to have people on the show who reflect the country that we live in.”
Graebner told the outlet that the show had “let Matt down” and went on to say, “This season has gone wrong on so many levels. We didn’t protect him as we should have. This season finale was the darkest day I’ve had on this franchise. Here is this great black man, and we should have celebrated his love story. Instead, we saw a man burdened and overwhelmed by the issues of racism. It was really sad for me personally.
Freeland and Graebner said finding a black bachelor was a “priority,” but did not say how soon that might happen.
James starred as The Bachelor for season 25 which aired in 2021, and he remains the only black lead throughout the show’s 28 seasons. James criticized various aspects of how his season was handled, including the editing of an episode that showed him reuniting with his estranged father. “Too often we see dangerous stereotypes and negative portrayals of black fathers in the media,” James said on Twitter shortly after the episode aired. “And they have consequences when presented without context.”
Lindsay, who starred in The Bachelorette in 2017 as the first black leader, also criticized the way James’ season was handled. (The most recent blacks lead on The Bachelorette include Michelle Young in 2021 and Charity Lawson last year.) The photo that made headlines during James’ season was a resurfaced photo of contestant Rachael Kirkconnell attending an antebellum-themed party . Ultimately, Kirkconnell won James’ season and the couple remained together.
Long duration Bachelor franchise host Chris Harrison left his role in 2021 after defending Kirkconnell earlier that year in an interview for Additional with Lindsay, then a correspondent. Additionally, series creator Mike Fleiss stepped away from the franchise last year; Two days after announcing his departure, he responded to a report that his departure followed an investigation into racial discrimination, with Fleiss acknowledging he could have done more to engender diversity.
The Bachelorette returns to ABC on July 8 with star Jenn Tran, who finished in fifth place on Joey Graziadei’s recently concluded season. The single person. Tran marks the franchise’s first Asian American role.
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News Source : www.hollywoodreporter.com
