From the final rose to the drop of water.
Rachel Lindsay is ready to cut ties with the “Bachelor” franchise after a series of troubled scandals surrounding the race on ABC’s dating show.
“I can’t take it anymore,” said Lindsay, 35, in her podcast, “Higher Education”, on Friday. “I am contractually bound in some ways. But when everything is ready, I am too. I can’t do this anymore. “
After appearing on Nick Viall’s season of “The Bachelor”, the Dallas attorney was chosen as the first black “Bachelorette” in 2017. She currently presents the official “Bachelor Happy Hour” podcast, which is associated with the franchise.
Despite working closely with the “Bachelor” franchise in recent years, Lindsay has always been very vocal about the series’ lack of diversity, particularly the absence of a major black actor, before the current “Bachelor” Matt James.
She said exclusively to Page Six last June, in the midst of the Black Lives Matter movement, “When I see what’s going on in our country, and then look at the franchise, I can’t continue to be affiliated – it’s honestly embarrassing at this point – be affiliated with a franchise that is not on the right side of it. “
More recently, racial tensions in the “Bachelor” franchise surfaced when Lindsay interviewed longtime host of the series, Chris Harrison, on “Extra”.
In the segment, he asked viewers to offer competitor Rachael Kirkconnell “a little grace, a little understanding” amid accusations that she allegedly “liked” racially insensitive social media posts and was photographed at a themed party. plantation.
“The things that boiled me the most were the compassion, the space and the grace that Chris Harrison wanted to give Rachael, but I couldn’t give this Rachel in the interview, I couldn’t give to people who were offended by the things she did” , said Lindsay in “Higher Learning. “
Harrison, 49, apologized for speaking in a way that “perpetuates racism”, and Lindsay shared that the ABC presenter also reached out to her personally.
Although the former “Bachelorette” said that she “appreciated” Harrison’s comments, she added: “I am tired of being king. I’m exhausted. I really had enough. “
Meanwhile, Kirkconnell, 24, addressed her reaction on Thursday night: “At one point, I didn’t recognize how offensive and racist my actions were, but that doesn’t excuse them. My age or when it happened does not excuse anything. They are not acceptable or correct in any sense. I was ignorant, but my ignorance was racist ”.
ABC representatives, Warner Bros. and Lindsay did not immediately return Page Six’s request for comment.