The Bachelor is not a show one generally looks to for progressive feminist values, but apparently comedian and admitted reality TV junkie Amy Schumer thought host Chris Harrison’s comments on last night’s episode were insensitive and misogynistic, even by the not-so-lofty standards of a show on which a bunch of women compete for the attention of one dude.
The moment that pissed Amy off came during Harrison’s interview with former contestant Jubilee Sharpe, who was dismissed from the show in week five.
Sharpe spoke about her tragic backstory (she was adopted by an American family after her parents were killed in Haiti when she was young), and her appreciation for the fact that Bachelor Ben Higgins didn’t see her “complicated past” as a “huge obstacle.”
Harrison replied:
“I know you can’t control how complicated you are. You might be complicated, and I know you stir the pot sometimes, but I hope you realize you’re a pretty special woman, and I really appreciate you coming here and opening up the way you did.”
Seems innocent enough, but apparently Harrison’s use of the word “complicated” to describe Sharpe struck Schumer as offensive.
“There is nothing wrong with ‘complicated’ women Chris Harrison,” Schumer tweeted. “You treated it like something she should fight. A women shouldn’t try to…be less complicated so as to hopefully attract a man.
“And she shouldn’t find value in herself just because a dude liked her…She is smart and strong and a sergeant in the military. She lost her entire family and you say she must fight off being complicated.”
Many have gotten Amy’s back, others have accused her of making a mountain out of a mole hill and being a bit too eager to add her voice to the ever-louder chorus of outraged social media users.
We won’t sound off one way one another, but suffice it to say, the situation is…complicated. Sorry.
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