Bachelorette Rachel Lindsay slams black Bachelor Matt James casting as ‘just a knee-jerk reaction’
FORMER Bachelorette Rachel Lindsay has slammed the ABC franchise for its “knee-jerk” reaction in casting its first black Bachelor, Matt James, as result of “societal pressure.”
The 35-year-old is the only black person of color who has led the series in its 20-year history when she starred on season 13 of in 2017.
, 28, was ever in 40 seasons of the show after fans demanded more diversity.
Just hours after ABC made the big announcement on Friday, the podcast host was candid with her thoughts on the decision.
“Congrats to Matt James. I am happy to see that a black man was cast after 18 years and 40 seasons. I believe it is a step in the right direction.
“I would be remiss to not point out that based on the current climate, it feels like a knee-jerk reaction and a result of societal pressure,” she fired off in her statement.
The former attorney continued: “This announcement, without any further commitments regarding diversity, sweepingly brushes deeper issues under the rug.
"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,” she challenged the reality series.
While production has yet to respond to Rachel’s comments, show creator Mike Fleiss tweeted after Matt’s casting was revealed.
“More to come... We can and will do better,” he wrote with no further details of changes for the future.
Longtime host, Chris Harrison, echoed the sentiments: “We can and we will do better to portray diverse love stories that reflect the world around us.
“This is just the beginning,” he promised on Twitter.
Matt’s casting came after fans and for ABC to cast a black male lead for the upcoming season of - which got over 80,000 signatures.
In , the real estate broker - who was on 's season of The Bachelorette - talked about his reaction when he got the call.
The ABC Food Tours founder told : “It’s an honor. I’m just going to lean into myself and how my mom raised me.
"And hopefully when people invite me into their homes on Monday night they’re going to see that I’m not much different from them and they see that diverse love stories are beautiful.”
Matt - who is , Tyler Cameron - also addressed to step-it-up and include more diversity in the franchise.
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He said: "When Rachel speaks, we listen. She has a very important voice in all this, being the first black woman, person of color, to have a lead.
"I think that we’re all filing suit in that conversation and this is hopefully the first of many black men to be in the position that I’m in right now.
“In my opinion, I don’t think it’s ever the wrong time to do the right thing," Matt added.
Although 39-year-old Clare’s season was , producers confirmed it will still air before it’s Matt’s turn to find love.