As proven by Barack Obama, America was ready for a black President of the United States in 2008.
However, according to one prominent former ABC reality star, citizens of this country have not yet reached a place where they will accept a black Bachelorette in their living rooms on a weekly basis.
This topic was broached yesterday because Chase McNary and Wells Adams were guests on Vinny Ventiera’s Wrong Reasons podcast.
When the subject turned to Rachel Lindsay (pictured below), who has grown into a fan favorite on Season 21 of The Bachelor, Adams said he simply couldn’t imagine her being named the next Bachelorette.
Not because he’d have a problem with it, Wells was quick to point out.
Simply because he doesn’t believe producers are willing to go there.
The mere talk of Lindsay as The Bachelorette is nothing but a tease, Adams says.
“[Producers] want everyone to think, Oh, this black girl is finishing pretty late on’ and they’ve never had a black Bachelorette,” he said on air.
Adams acknowledges that the show “might” go in the direction of its first African-American leading lady in a few months, but he worries that producers might select Corinne Olympios instead.
And this simply cannot come to pass.
“It’s the direction they have to go,” Adams says of selecting Lindsay, because otherwise people will think the following:
“‘Holy s‑‑t, Donald Trump’s the president, and Corinne’s the Bachelorette? What’s the world going to do?"”
Adams (above) makes a good point.
It’s hard to even known which is scarier: Trump as President or Corinne as The Bachelorette? Let’s hope we never need to choose.
(Then again, come on. We all know Steve Bannon is really the President.)
McNary mentioned on the podcast how the show’s producers had chosen Caila Quinn as the season 12 Bachelorette … prior to switching to JoJo Fletcher at the last minute.
He said he could see something similar happening this season.
He’s afraid executives are simply afraid to just go ahead and make the right, diverse decision.
“Remember, we all thought it was Caila, and that was exactly what they were trying to do – that was diversity being the forefront,” Adams agreed, expounding:
“And then they kind of took stock of how America felt about it, they kind of leaked that information, and they realized America wasn’t super-pumped about that choice.
“Regardless of the diversity issue, it might’ve just been they didn’t really love her personality or persona. But when they found out it was JoJo, people were very excited about that.”
Of course, Corinne may actually win The Bachelor this season.
Those trying to avoid The Bachelor spoilers are unaware of the eventual champion.
It would certainly help Lindsay’s cause of Corinne was off the table as an option because she was engaged to Nick Viall.
ABC president Channing Dungey told members of the press at an event in August that her goal is for the Bachelor franchise to start choosing more diverse leads.
“I would very much like to see some changes there,” she said at the time.
But that’s just talk.
We’re all sitting here, awaiting some actual action.
Would you care if The Bachelor chose an African-American as its anchor? Would you somehow not tune in if so?