The Bachelorette contestant Justin Glaze has apologized for offensive tweets that have resurfaced in a Reddit thread. These were reportedly written between 2009 and 2011 when Glaze, now 27, was a teenager.
In these statements, Justin used homophobic language and promoted prejudice and discrimination toward Black women.
On July 12, Justin spoke about the resurfacing of his past remarks during an appearance on The Bachelor Happy Hour podcast with host Becca Kufrin and guest host Tayshia Adams.
Tayshia is a host of the current season of The Bachelorette alongside Kaitlyn Bristowe. Katie Thurston continues to look for her forever love among the final seven contestants. Justin is still in the running for her heart.
“As I reflect on everything I just went through with this whole journey, oftentimes people ask me what I took from it,” he said.
“And one of the biggest takeaways for me was just my personal growth, and one of those things is being able to hold myself accountable, which is something that historically I wasn’t able to do. So, I have no issue with owning up and apologizing from the bottom of my heart for the really hurtful words that I used,” he continued.
Justin Glaze appeared remorseful, says he ‘won’t run’ from mistakes
Throughout the podcast, as the hosts asked him to explain his past actions, Justin appeared remorseful.
“The last thing that I want to do is run from it. That’s not who I am. I just want to speak from the heart, and hopefully, people will get an understanding of where I was then versus where I am now. When I look back at 14-year-old Justin, I was in high school and quite frankly I was the type of person who for whatever reason felt the need to fit in and say funny things and keep up with what my peers were doing and saying,” he explained.
He said he won’t run away from his past.
“The folks I had associated with would throw around really hurtful slurs that, at the time, I didn’t really think anything of,” he clarified.
The Bachelorette star said the use of that language was ‘ignorant’
In the interview, Justin said the use of that type of language was “ignorant.”
The Bachelorette star did not want to be defended against remarks that are a decade old. He understood what he said as a teenager was ignorant and hurtful.
Justin understood that no matter when those remarks were made, those types of words should have never been uttered. As a 27-year-old man who has matured since those initial statements were tweeted, he looked back on those statements and was ashamed of the words he used. He said he knows the weight they carry.
“I understand how much allyship and support those groups that I offended need,” he concluded.
Justin is one of the remaining men left on the ABC reality dating series as The Bachelorette moves into its second half of Season 17.
The Bachelorette airs Mondays at 8/7c on ABC.