Rachel Lindsay didn't like the conversationChris Harrison had withMatt James about race.- In the premiere, James spoke about the pressure he felt being the first Black "Bachelor" star.
- Lindsay said she didn't like that James had "to explain to a white man what it means to be Black."
Weeks before "
Lindsay told Insider back in January that she didn't like the conversation Harrison had with Matt James during the season premiere, in which James discussed the pressure he felt being the first Black "Bachelor" star in the show's 19-year history.
"Why is Matt James, a Black man, having to explain to a white man what it means to be Black?" Lindsay, who made history as the first-ever Black Bachelorette, said. "It just was not the right way to do it."
Lindsay said she understands why James received criticism for the sit-down interview with Harrison
Just before he met the women on the first night in the premiere episode, James asked Harrison if they could sit down and have a chat. The 29-year-old real estate broker then opened up to Harrison about "what it was like to be a product of interracial marriage."
"It's tough because you've got people who have certain views, old-school views on what a relationship and what love looks like," James said on the January 4 episode. "And you've got people who are cheering for you to find love. And then you've got people who are cheering for you to end up with a specific person, a specific person of a specific race."
"That's something that kept me up at night," he added. "I don't want to piss off Black people, I don't want to piss off white people, but I'm both of those. You know what I mean? It's like, how do I please everybody?"
Lindsay told Insider that she wished James had been able to express his feelings in an "ITM interview," known to Bachelor Nation as an "In The Moment" interview that features someone talking straight to the camera.
"The conversation should've been Matt just talking about some of his fears and reservations he has stepping into this role," Lindsay said. "The setup didn't do Matt any favors and I feel like that's also why people were so critical of it."
Lindsay gave James a chance to address the conversation on her 'Bachelor Happy Hour' podcast
When Lindsay and James spoke about that moment on the January 12 episode of her "Bachelor Happy Hour" podcast, the former "Bachelorette" didn't hold her critiques back.
She told the "Bachelor" that many people unfairly thought the conversation was a "disclaimer that you were not going to pick a woman of color," which James said was frustrating.
"If you knew anything about me, if you were close to me, you'd know the last women that I dated were all Black women. And when you're dating somebody, if you're excluding a race, I don't even know where to begin on that," he continued.
Lindsay then told James that she wished the conversation had also touched on the pressure he faces as a biracial man in the lead position.
"You're not just representing yourself as a Black man, you're also representing yourself as a biracial man, and that's a whole other way to walk through life because you're not just one race," she said.
"I don't honestly see it as a pressure anymore," James responded. "I see it as a reality."
Weeks after the premiere aired, 'The Bachelor' was back in the headlines
On Saturday, Harrison announced that he was "stepping aside" from the show "for a period of time" after he spoke out in defense of a controversial contestant on James' season.
Harrison's announcement came four days after his Extra interview with Lindsay, in which they discussed photos that had emerged of Rachael Kirkconnell at a plantation-themed fraternity party in 2018.
The 24-year-old, who has been a frontrunner on James' season, first made headlines in January when a TikTok user accused the "Bachelor" contestant of bullying her for dating Black men. Another TikTok user also accused her of liking racist photos.
As his interview with Lindsay began, Harrison called for people to give Kirkconnell "a little grace, a little understanding, a little compassion."
"Well the picture was from 2018 at an Old South antebellum party, that's not a good look," Lindsay replied. "She's celebrating the Old South. If I went to that party, what would I represent at that party?"
Harrison said Lindsay was "100% right in 2021," but claimed that wouldn't have been the case in 2018. He added that "the woke police is out there," and that Kirkconnell had been "thrown to the lions."
Following the interview, a petition was launched to remove Harrison as host and former contestants from "The Bachelor" and "The Bachelorette" demanded accountability from the franchise.
Harrison later apologized on Instagram saying in a statement that he's "spent the last few days listening to the pain my words have caused, and I am deeply remorseful."
"By excusing historical racism, I defended it. I invoked the term 'woke police,' which is unacceptable. I am ashamed over how uninformed I was. I was so wrong," he added.
Kirkconnell also later apologized, recognizing "there have been rumors circulating."
"At one point, I didn't recognize how offensive and racist my actions were, but that doesn't excuse them," Kirkconnell wrote in a statement shared to Instagram. "I was ignorant, but my ignorance was racist."
Even before Harrison's controversial interview and subsequent apology, Lindsay told Insider that the franchise still needed to make major changes when it came to improving diversity issues.
"Until we have somebody at the top who's making decisions who's a person of color, we'll never get there, and that we haven't done yet," she said back in January.
"The show has hired a diversity consultant, a team, which is a great step," Lindsay added, "but they can only do so much and make suggestions. We need people who are making decisions in the room."