The former Bachelorette star was candid in her criticism of the show’s decision to air the personal chat. “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?” she asked. “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. They only know how to mishandle situations when they come to race. That is what they’ve shown us time and time again. This should never have been aired for America to see.”
Rachel acknowledged that the conversation may have been necessary for Matt to have with his dad, but that didn’t mean the audience needed to join, too. “This was a conversation that should have just been for Matt, not for the rest of the world to see,” she opined. “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.'”
The former reality TV star also took issue with how this conversation was aired amid ongoing issues with how matters of inclusion and diversity have been handled by the franchise, including host Chris Harrison‘s recent problematic comments to Rachel about contestant Rachael Kirkconnell. ”I know for a fact Matt was uncomfortable with this conversation,” Rachel said, “and the fact that it was going to be aired.”
The situation was a reminder of why she has continued to call for people of color to be included in the franchise’s decision-making process. “This is why I always go back to this—you’ve got to have a person of color in the decision room,” she urged. “If I had been in there, absolutely not.”