Bachelor presenter Chris Harrison is taking a step back and reflecting on a recent interview that left Bachelor Nation in an uproar.
On Tuesday, the former MC appeared on Extra in an interview with former “Bachelorette” Rachel Lindsay, who was the show’s first black protagonist. In the interview, he defended current competitor Rachael Kirkconnell after her photos reappeared at a “Old South” themed party at a plantation in 2018.
In a statement on Wednesday, Harrison, 49, apologized for his words.
“I have this incredible platform to talk about love and yesterday I took a position on topics that should have been better informed. Although I don’t speak for Rachael Kirkconnell, my intentions were simply to ask for grace to offer you an opportunity to speak on your own behalf “he wrote.
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“What I now realize that I did was to cause harm by speaking incorrectly in a way that perpetuates racism, and for that I deeply regret. I also apologize to my friend Rachel Lindsay for not hearing her better about a subject that she first understands. hand and humbly thank the Bachelor Nation members who came to me to take responsibility, “concluded Harrison. “I promise to do better.”
Chris Harrison apologized for ‘speaking in a way that perpetuates racism’.
(ABC / Craig Sjodin)
The controversy over Kirkconnell’s photos does not end with plantation photos either. A Reddit user uploaded an image of Kirkconnell dressed in a Native American costume and she was accused on TikTok of intimidating a former high school classmate “for liking black guys”.
Kirkconnell did not comment publicly on any of the photos. She is currently competing for the first final rose for Black “Bachelor” Matt James and is at the forefront of the season.
Rachael Kirkconnell and Matt James on a date during ‘The Bachelor’.
(ABC / Craig Sjodin)
At Extra, Harrison and Lindsay discussed the severity of the photos. “It is here, again, that we all need to have a little grace, a little understanding, a little compassion,” he said. “I haven’t heard Rachael talk about it yet. And until I really hear this woman get a chance to speak, who am I to say any of that?”
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Lindsay pointed out that the photo “was from 2018 at a pre-South War party … this is not a good look.”
Harrison debated, “Well, is Rachel looking good in 2018? Or isn’t she looking good in 2021? Because there’s a big difference.”
“It’s never a good look,” said Lindsay, “because she is celebrating the Old South. If I went to this party, what would I represent in it?”
“You are 100% right in 2021. It wasn’t the case in 2018,” said Harrison, “I just know that, I don’t know, 50 million people did it in 2018 … That was a kind of party that a lot of people went to. And again, I am not defending; I was not. We are not looking through the same lens. “
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Lindsay reasoned “that’s the problem … we weren’t looking through these lenses and we should have been looking. And just because it was a popular party, you know, doesn’t necessarily mean it’s right.”