It's Been A Week, Bach Nation.
Notes on racist fuckery, unionization, and (maybe? possibly?) some consequences.
(Photo Credit: ABC)
Y’all, you know we love a good story about workers uniting to fight against an oppressive management structure.
Well, it feels like we essentially got that at the end of last week when the women of season 25 of “The Bachelor” put out a joint statement denouncing “any defense of racism,” calling out the franchise for exploiting and tokenizing the lived experiences of BIPOC contestants, and making it clear that they were standing with Rachel Lindsay in the wake of her mess of an interview with Chris Harrison.
Soon after, the men of “The Bachelorette” season 16 followed suit, hammering home that “the addition of more people who identify as BIPOC has opened up a conversation on race, community, and who we are as people.”
It seems, dear readers, that the workers of Bachelor Nation are out here unionizing. AND WE LOVE TO SEE IT! Guess that’s what happens when the franchise tries to put a band-aid on its glaring race problem by casting more non-white people, and then throwing them into a fundamentally whitewashed structure. After nearly two decades of casual racism — Mike Fleiss was out here invoking Ashley Hebert’s alleged 1/16th Cherokee heritage as proof of his commitment to “diversity” in 2011! — there finally seems to be enough will on the part of the audience to support current and former cast members (and viewers!) who have been harmed by the show’s utter lack of care.
We get it if you want to opt out altogether — we grapple with when to draw a line in the sand ourselves — but it does feel like we are at a tipping point, and like bigger, structural changes might be possible if people keep yelling.
New Pod!
We had an absolutely fantastic conversation with comedian and author Phoebe Robinson and her boyfriend “British Bakeoff.” We spent the first 30 minutes talking about racism and “The Bachelor” franchise, and we laughed our way through this week’s episode recap. We had a fucking blast and we hope you enjoy it.
More Bach Nation Voices To Listen To, Watch And Read
Rachel Lindsay on CNN with Don Lemon: Bach Nation has officially gone mainstream! Rachel absolutely slayed this interview, and watching Don Lemon try to comprehend the depths of Chris Harrison’s racist ignorance is truly something to behold.
Bryan Abasolo and Mike Johnson on their “Talking It Out” podcast: #MikeForBachelor and Bryan for Husband of the Year. These two never disappoint.
Taylor Nolan’s generous masterclass on how white would-be allies can do better: We always learn from Taylor, and this video was no exception.
Sharleen Joynt’s fantastic blog post: Her recap of episode 6 of “The Bachelor” — turned brilliant breakdown of Chris Harrison’s failures — made us want to stand up and cheer.
“I’m more interested in hard evidence about actual CHANGES being made to production, to the diversity in the employees, to taking steps (overhauling casting and background checks) to avoid this shit happening ever again,” Sharleen wrote on her blog, All The Pretty Pandas. “I’m over The Powers That Be merely airing a conversation about BLM on a 1-on-1 date—how about YOU have that conversation for once.”
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