Rachel Lindsay made history within The Bachelor franchise when she became the first Black Bachelorette, and she has been making waves ever since.
After enduring many challenges surrounding the franchise, Rachel has continued to boldly speak out on the deep-rooted problems within The Bachelor and its community, especially when it comes to the lack of diversity and mistreatment of underrepresented communities.
Rachel recently took time to write a first-person essay for New York Magazine where she discussed her experience and expressed her critique of the series and its fandom in raw candid detail.
However, Rachel felt disappointed and disrespected when seeing that that her vulnerable and honest piece was tarnished by the magazine’s use of a “clickbait” headline that she claims did not represent her words nor her feelings.
Rachel calls out the toxic subgroup within Bachelor Nation
In the op-ed, Rachel explained that there is a subgroup within Bachelor Nation that she refers to as the “Bachelor Klan” for the way in which this diehard subgroup reflects and perpetrates racism, misogyny, xenophobia, and homophobia.
Despite Rachel talking about deep and complicated subjects, the magazine went with the headline “Oops, I blew up The Bachelor.”
Rachel felt this headline was extremely reductive to the message she was trying to send and that it seems to want to fan the flames of controversy rather than emphasize Rachel’s personal truths. Considering she worked closely with the magazine to put out this vulnerable essay, Rachel appears to view the headline as a betrayal of trust.
After the essay was published, Rachel made a statement explaining how New York Magazine let her down by putting out that headline.
Rachel claims her real thoughts are within the essay
Often when Rachel calls out the toxicity within the fandom she’s met with an avalanche of hate and pushback, so it was already a bold risk for Rachel to open up so bluntly about her thoughts on the franchise.
According to Rachel, the headline’s suggestion that she “blew up The Bachelor”, as though it wasn’t the underlying issues within the franchise that was responsible for the show’s major shifts, was the very notion Rachel wanted to refute but instead, the magazine chose to lean into the misconstrued narrative.
Rachel’s misrepresentation, mistreatment, and minced words partly contributed to the outspoken star walking away from The Bachelor franchise completely and moving on to new ventures, including writing a book titled Miss Me With That.
In the op-ed, Rachel also shared that her revealing interview with Chris Harrison on Extra was when she knew for certain she was ready to move on from The Bachelor franchise, feeling as though Chris Harrison’s defense of racial insensitivity was indicative of so many issues the series has.
Rachel wasn’t alone in feeling disappointed by Chris Harrison’s thoughts and actions, as all the backlash he received resulted in his surprising exit.
Rachel still stands by the essay, despite being disheartened by the headline. She encourages people to still read the op-ed because the words she wrote reflect her accurate and honest thoughts and she’s proud to have shared her truths with the public.
The Bachelorette airs Mondays at 8/7c on ABC.