If you were to ask Rachel Lindsay, DeMario Jackson has a lot in common with Jon Snow.
Because he came back from the dead? Because he may be the Prince That Was Promised?
No.
Because, according to Lindsay, Jackson knows nothing.
Appearing on The E&G Podcast yesterday, Jackson touched on his brief stint as a suitor on The Bachelorette this past season, one in which Lindsay gave him the boot after learning DeMario had a girlfriend.
“I was only there for the two weeks in the house,” Jackson said, prior to delving into controversial territory:
“From the beginning you knew that she was attracted to white men. You knew that. No disrespect, you just knew. She had that vibe.
“From night one, we all set down, all the guys and I said, ‘They’re going to have a black representative, either myself or Eric, and they’re going to have Dean, Peter, and Brian as the final four.’
“We all caught that.”
In the end, Lindsay selected Bryan Abasolo over Peter Kraus on the show’s finale.
Both men are white, but that’s nothing more than a coincidence, Lindsay says.
Commenting on a photo from the podcast’s official Instagram page that was promoting Jackson’s appearance on E&G, she wrote the following on Tuesday:
“Says the guy that dated Lexi [a white woman]. Demario never knew me and still doesn’t.”
DeMario, of course, has become more famous for the controversy that engulfed him and Corinne Olympios on Season 4 of Bachelor in Paradise than for his time on The Bachelorette.
Production on that spinoff was halted for a couple weeks while Warner Bros. conducted an internal investigation that eventually cleared DeMario of all sexual misconduct charges.
He appeared on the show last night, sat down opposite Chris Harrison and discussed all he’s been through.
“I know who I am. I know I’m not that monster they’re trying to portray on TV,” Jackson said.
“Like Michelle Obama said, ‘When they go low, you go high.’ It was hard to go high, but I had to do it because I train and mentor children, and I can’t tell them to be something that I’m not.
“That’s what kept me going. And great family, friends, school teachers, people at the gym. It was crazy to see the response from them… There was just so much love. I was extremely humbled.”
Olympios will speak on air to Harrison next week.
Asked about his one-time sexual partner turned quasi nemesis, DeMario had only kind things to say.
“I felt bad for her ‘cause she was being slut-shamed,” he said.
“I love my mother and I love the women in my family more than anything in this world, and it hurt me knowing she was going through the same thing I was, but a little bit more aggressive and intense.”
