A lot has happened in the weeks since then-police officer Derek Chauvin killed George Floyd. This horrifying event sparked mass protests against racism and police brutality, around the country and around the globe.
Since then, arrests have been made, public schools have cut ties with police departments, white CEOs and Editors In Chief have been forced to step down, and famous reality TV stars have been fired. And it seems – maybe – that space has finally been opened up for anti-racist fans of The Bachelor franchise to not just demand real change, but actually get it.
Bachelor alumni who often avoid politics on their feeds in favor of shilling products, were suddenly put in a position where they had to speak up or signal complicity. Their comments sections became spaces for full-blown debate. Rachel Lindsay and Becca Kufrin had a candid, raw, difficult conversation about race on the official Bachelor podcast feed.
Just days after a grassroots campaign for Bachelor diversity was launched and Rachel threatened to sever ties with the franchise altogether, “The Bachelor” named Matt James – the founder of nonprofit ABC Food Tours who was supposed to be a contestant on Clare Crawley’s season – as the first Black Bachelor.
Because so much has been going on, we wanted to dedicate a whole podcast episode to diving a bit deeper into this current moment of Black Lives Matter activism, and how it is playing out in Bachelor Nation. First, we spoke to two of the Bachelor Diversity Campaign's co-creators, Ria Ali and friend of the pod Brett Vergara about the grassroots campaign that now has more than 100,000 signatures. Then we caught up with Rachel Lindsay, the morning that the news about Matt James becoming the franchise’s first Black Bachelor broke. Finally, Taylor Nolan, who has been an outspoken voice for change within The Bachelor franchise, shared some very practical advice for white people who want to be actively anti-racist.

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