The Bachelor Season 27 frontrunner Greer Blitzer has caused quite a stir as her “racist” comments have resurfaced.
America was introduced to the 24-year-old contestant on last night’s season premiere of The Bachelor, where Greer received Zach Shallcross’ first impression rose.
Although the medical sales rep may be around for a while this season, she has been facing online backlash after a Bachelor-themed Reddit group unleashed since-deleted posts from Greer about an incident that happened with her friends in high school.
The comments by Greer on Twitter showed her defending a blackface photo that caused an uproar at Lamar High School in Houston, Texas. During an off-campus party, a white teenage girl had put black paint on her face and wore a Tupac shirt — claiming that she was dressed as a “shadow.”
According to KPRC, the NBC affiliate, students involved claimed to have not even known what blackface was and said the photos taken at the party were “misinterpreted.”
However, other students were extremely hurt by the ordeal. “I thought it was blackface and I was immediately offended,” student Ogechi Anene said. “She was supposed to be Tupac. If you were to impersonate a black person even as a costume I don’t think it’s appropriate to wear black paint on your skin.”
Greer took to social media with her thoughts on the situation, with defensive comments such as, “The students involved didn’t even know what blackface was so my point exactly. It wasn’t an intentional racist act.”
Since-deleted comments from The Bachelor’s Greer Blitzer resurface
According to screenshots shown on the Reddit thread, Greer also wrote, “She did not paint herself black because she felt superior to black [people],” and “Putting white powder on your face isn’t okay either. That didn’t make the news did it?”
The thread also shows multiple photos of Greer supporting Donald Trump in 2016 and slamming Hillary Clinton in the presidential election.
Some former classmates of Greer have even spoken out about the situation, claiming to have remembered the party and the stir it caused.
Greer receives backlash for defending blackface
After the since-deleted comments made their way onto Reddit, Greer received an ample amount of backlash from Bachelor Nation.
One Twitter user wrote that they would’ve given their first impression rose to contestant Charity rather than “Trumper and racist apologist Greer.”
Another Bachelor viewer wrote, “Damn forget everything I said [about] Greer she racist lol.”
Bachelor fans saw a similar situation happen in the past when Matt James’ winner Rachael Kirkconnell was attacked for her resurfaced “racist” photos.
Rachael had attended a plantation-themed college formal, which she took accountability for in an Instagram post, stating, “At one point, I didn’t recognize how offensive and racist my actions were, but that doesn’t excuse them. My age or when it happened does not excuse anything. They are not acceptable or okay in any sense. I was ignorant, but my ignorance was racist.”
As of now, Greer has yet to issue a public apology for her resurfaced comments.
The Bachelor airs on Mondays at 8/7c on ABC.