Last night, Bachelor fans watched as Matt James reunited with his father for an on-camera conversation about his absence whilst Matt was a child.
Now, former Bachelorette Rachel Lindsay is calling out the franchise for their decision to film the personal conversation.
Lindsay took to the Bachelor Party podcast to share her thoughts on the episode, and here is what she had to say:
"What's the one thing we know about his dad? That he wasn't around. That's it. That's all we know, which, if you know anything about stereotypes that are assigned to particular races, here, the Black race, you know that absentee fathers is a stereotype," she said, also bringing up the lack of context given about anything other than the stereotype. "... Matt can't get to the next level until he has this conversation. That's how this is being presented to us." Her qualms lay with the choice made by the producers to highlight this conversation.
"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," she continued. "They only know how to mishandle situations when they come to race. That is what they've shown time and time again. This should've never been aired for America to see."
Lindsay simply just didn't see the reason for the conversation to be aired in such a way that the show decided to, and implied that the producers took advantage of the fact that this was the first time Matt has gotten emotional on the show, so of naturally they would air the scene in favor of ratings. "This moment broke Matt. Of course they wanted to show it."
Matt took to Twitter during last night's show, calling the experience "hard to watch all this time later, especially knowing the world is watching with me," among other statements about the stereotypical implications the nature of the conversation may have had.
Matt James' Words on the Conversation
I just wanted to say that too often, we see dangerous stereotypes and negative depictions of Black fathers in media… https://t.co/cffpKJO2dP— Matt James (@Matt James) 1615253559
All I hope is that people watch that conversation with nuance, care, and also an understanding that there are real… https://t.co/hizXb7YGEM— Matt James (@Matt James) 1615253559
“All I hope is that people watch that conversation with nuance, care, and also an understanding that there are real systemic issues at play," James said in the tweet.
James concluded his statement "I just wanted to say that too often, we see dangerous stereotypes and negative depictions of Black fathers in media. And they have consequences when presented without context," along with a link to a page about "Media Portrayals and Black Male Outcomes"
Lindsay referenced this series of tweets in her podcast, explaining that not only does she feel for Matt due to the negative light this season has been put in, but she also praises him for what he said on Twitter, calling his words "powerful" and "well said."
She ended her thoughts with a plea that she has made before for the franchise to go on a hiatus until they "can handle these type of issues and until they want to do it in a serious way."
"There is a level of awareness and we're talking about certain stereotypes that have been perpetuated in this society when it comes to Black men. The Bachelor put it front and center in the worst way tonight," she concluded. "I don't understand how you could be a part of this current season. Because, as we have seen in this episode, there's still so much work to be done."
