Ben Higgins is breaking his silence about the racist behavior that has taken place in The Bachelor franchise recently.
It’s no secret that the world is in uproar after the senseless killing of George Floyd by a white police officer on May 25, 2020.
And it didn’t make things better when Hannah Brown muttered the n-word while singing a rap song in an Instagram Story while intoxicated just days before that.
Ben decided to speak out about racism and Hannah B’s words on his iHeart Radio podcast, The Ben and Ashley I Almost Famous Podcast.
Here, Higgins reveals that he has received hateful comments for condemning what Hannah said.
Ben Higgins says he’s received hateful comments
On the podcast, Ben revealed that he didn’t agree with what Hannah said, calling her out for being wrong.
He then explained that he’s all about forgiving her and loving her, but accepting that what she did is wrong and should not be repeated by others.
“My hope is that we turn to forgiving, loving, accepting Hannah, but recognizing what she did was wrong,” Higgins said on the podcast. “What she said was wrong. If you’re a Hannah fan, I urge you to hear what I’m saying. What she said was not right. Her apology was not great.
“Two weeks later, she comes out with an apology that I hope we can all listen to, as friends, as family, as fans. I hope we can hear what Hannah says, and hey, she has a lot to learn, but she’s not saying what she did was right.”
Ben also revealed that he has received hateful comments on the podcast’s Facebook page, revealing that Hannah’s fans have lashed out at him for speaking out and condemning her behavior.
That’s when Ben decided to ask his listeners to please stop listening to the podcast and leave their online community if they don’t agree with him.
“And if you don’t like what I’m saying, then I just ask that you leave this podcast,” he continued. “Because quite frankly, the hate that’s on our Facebook group and the negative comments that are coming in about the podcast … those aren’t the people I want to have around in this community.”
Ben Higgins was disgusted with Hannah’s comment
While Ben was disgusted with Hannah’s comment, he does accept that she has apologized.
He does forgive her and wants everyone to move on, but also wants people to learn a lesson – don’t use the n-word for whatever reason.
After Hannah said the n-word while singing lyrics from the song on Instagram, she immediately denied saying it. Two days later, she issued a brief apology on Instagram.
Then she went silent for two weeks.
On May 31, Hannah issued a lengthy apology on IGTV, where she discussed how much she had learned over the past two weeks. It had been two weeks since she had muttered the n-word in a song on Instagram.
It was later revealed that Hannah had been asked to do a talk with Rachel Lindsay but then bowed out despite initially agreeing to it.
The Bachelor is currently on hiatus.