- Charity Lawson said she requested certain accommodations during her time as Bachelorette.
- "I had to have moments where I advocated for... certain things," she revealed in an interview with Insider.
As only the second monoracial Black Bachelorette to lead the series (and the fourth Black Bachelorette overall), Charity Lawson is well aware of the franchise's fraught history with POC contestants.
But the therapist, whose season of "The Bachelorette" aired its first episode Monday, made sure to advocate for herself while leading the show.
"When I even was announced as Bachelorette, that was the first thing my head went to — it's like, 'Oh, I'm not just a Bachelorette,'" Lawson tells Insider.
"We're making strides, but we're making them so, so slowly," she adds of the franchise's approach to race.
Lawson spoke with some of the men on her season to make sure everyone was "aware" of the complexity of her situation as a Black woman — though she says some of them were already cognizant of the show's past missteps in its approach to race.
Lawson says she was a staunch advocate for herself behind the scenes, too.
"With the people that work on the show and everything... I had to have moments where I advocated for things. Just speak[ing] up about certain things that they were — I don't wanna say oblivious to — but maybe just not on their radar, because they don't necessarily have to think about these things," Lawson says.
Some of the things she specifically requested included a glam team with a hairstylist "who can treat African-American hair," as well as "makeup artists, all those things that we're just not really always aware of that are needed differently when it comes to women of color."
Overall, Lawson tells Insider, she prioritized "having important conversations regarding race on the show" with contestants, producers, and everyone in between.
The "Bachelor" franchise has faced significant criticism in the past for its lack of diverse leads, and later, in its response to accusations of racist behavior leveled against certain contestants.
Rachel Lindsay made franchise history as the show's first Black Bachelorette in 2017. (She was followed by Michelle Young in season 18, and Tayshia Adams, who replaced Clare Crawley on "The Bachelorette" midway through season 16.)
The franchise faced a major moment of reckoning in 2021, after then-host Chris Harrison vehemently defended contestant Rachael Kirkconnell during an interview with Lindsay, who was working as an on-air correspondent for "Extra." (Kirkconnell appeared on season 25 of "The Bachelor," which featured Matt James as the first Black lead of the show.) Kirkconnell had come under fire after photos that appeared to show her attending an "Antebellum"-themed sorority costume party in college went viral.
Backlash against Harrison's comments to Lindsay ultimately led to him stepping down from his role as longtime host of the franchise. Lindsay, for her part, also distanced herself from the franchise after she received "death threats and personal attacks" from "racist" fans.