The Bachelor announced that Matt James will be the first black Bachelor in history, after a sustained call to arms in Bachelor Nation, led by Rachel Lindsay and endorsed by several former stars, who accused the franchise of white-washing.
Now, a former Bachelor casting producer named Jazzy Collins is confirming fans’ suspicions. Describing working on the show for five season, she says on IG that producers passed on working with contestants they thought were “too Black.”
She wrote: “During my time at The Bachelor/Bachelorette, I was the only Black person in the casting office… While working on Rachel Lindsay’s season of the show, we were called on to have a very diverse cast. It was my first season of the show, and I was excited to be an integral part of the show’s history. My hope was that having a racially diverse cast of gentlemen would be an important milestone that would continue into the future. That was not the case. After finishing Rachel Lindsay’s season of The Bachelorette, it went back to status quo: the cast was predominantly white. The only Black women that were picked to be in the running had weaves or chemically straightened hair, were ‘ethnically ambiguous,’ or were not considered if they were ‘too Black.’ Women with afros, braids, locs, etc; weren’t even given a chance because of the white standards of beauty.”
Collins adds that when she pointed out problems, she was labeled “aggressive.” She explains: “Once I developed a voice for myself in the office to speak out on issues, I was hit with many microaggressions, including being called ‘aggressive.’ I felt alone. While walking through the production and post offices, I only saw a total of three Black people. Soon after I left the show, I found out the only Black cast producer was also no longer with the team. Your show has been white-washed for decades, inside and out. Your head of post-production is white. Your Casting Director is white. Your Executive in charge is white. You only cast the token Black person, Asian person or Latinx person to satisfy what you believe to be the needs of your viewers. Many called for a Black bachelor for years – but you ignored it. I am happy to see you’ve chosen Matt James as your first Black Bachelor in 25 seasons. It took a pandemic and the Black Lives Matter movement to take a moment and reassess the issue at hand, which I’ve called on for years.”
RACHEL LINDSAY
Meanwhile, Bachelor alum Nick Viall claimed on his Viall Files pod that Lindsay’s season of The Bachelorette won’t be on The Bachelor: The Greatest Seasons—Ever! due to a licensing issue.
Lindsay, as many fans will recall, is the one and only black Bachelorette. Viall said: “That’s what I’ve heard from multiple reliable sources. It could potentially might not be true, but I’m pretty sure it is. I've heard that floated around. So they don’t even have the ability to do that. That being said, even if it was Rachel's season, it still highlights how white it has been. The optics just don't look great.”