Not every suitor on The Bachelorette is a prince. Sometimes, as you know if you follow The Bachelorette Spoilers, creeps make their way onto the show.
Recently uncovered screencaps of Garrett Yrigoyen’s horrifying social media activity has a lot of the Bachelor Nation decrying him as a bigot.
Now, Garrett is issuing an apology. Is it good enough?
Garrett Yrigoyen had “liked” a series of images on Instagram. Among them were images mocking immigrants, mocking trans women, fat-shaming women, and promoting conspiracy theories about survivors of the Parkland shooting.
Now that he’s been caught, Garrett took to social media to post an apology.
“To those who I have hurt and offended: This is all new to me.”
That’s not an apology, but it could be the start of one.
“I went on the Bachelorette for the adventure and possibility of falling in love, not fame.”
That sounds an awful lot like he’s sorry that his activity was exposed, right?
“I did not know what to expect once the show aired.”
He does apologize, after a fashion.
“I am sorry to those who I offended and I also take full responsibly for my ‘likes’ on Instagram that were hurtful and offensive.”
While some would have appreciated phrasing that doesn’t appear to cast blame on those who were offended, he did say that he is sorry.
“garrett_yrigs12 was my former Instagram handle and I decided to take it down and start fresh.”
His new handle is gy_yrigoyen.
He says that he remade his Instagram, giving himself a social media blank slate, because:
“I have learned an extremely valuable lesson and am taking steps to grow, become more educated, and be a better version of myself.”
He then says that this has been a wake-up call.
“I am not perfect, and I will never be anywhere close, but now I will always be more informed and aware of what I am liking and supporting, not just on Instagram, but in life.”
Well, it’s good that he’s thinking about it, at least.
“I never realized the power behind a mindless tap on Instagram and how it bears so much weight on people’s lives.”
He again seems to be blaming the people impacted by his activity rather than himself, but perhaps this is simply how he writes. (We all have peculiarities in our writing styles)
“I did not mean any harm by any of it.”
He says that simply because he enjoys memes about unabashed cruelty towards entire demographics of people does not mean that he’s a bad person.
“My Instagram ‘likes’ were not a true reflection of me and my morals.”
Furthermore, it sounds like Garrett did not enjoy people referring to him as a bigot.
“I am not the negative labels people are associating me with.”
He claims that people who know him in person don’t see him that way.
“For those who do know me, I am a sincere, genuine, loving, light-hearted, open-minded, and non-judgemental individual.”
He prefers to describe himself as affable.
“I like to make new friends with anyone I meet and want everyone to find their happiness …”
He thinks that others should take his experience to heart when they are on social media.
“Let my mistakes be a lesson for those who mindlessly double tap images, memes, and videos on any social media content that could be many things including hurtful, degrading, and dehumanizing.”
Though she is noted for her left-leaning views, Becca Kufrin defended Garrett in the wake of his scandal.
“I want viewers to be open to everyone, and I want them to go through this season with me and watch my love story unfold with all of these men.”
Last season had a racist suitor. We suppose that it’s no surprise that this season seems to have an everything-ist.
“I did things in the past that I’m sure wasn’t the best thing, but I just want people to stay open-minded to everyone.”
Either Becca is just very nice (she is), or she’s going out of her way to back up Garrett.
“I can’t fault on anyone for what they believe and who’s to say that anyone is truly what they believe in if they just double tap.”
Doesn’t that depend upon what they believe? There’s a difference between having a stance on immigration and laughing at the idea of a brown-skinned child being tossed over a wall.
“I can’t speak to that because that’s just not me. I am a strong woman and I do believe in certain things, but again, that’s what’s so great about our country — everyone is entitled to their own opinions.”
Garrett’s story of his social media scandal being a wake-up call that led him to rethink things and become a better person is nothing short of incredible.
But some fans took the comments to suggest that it is literally incredible. As in in-credible, not credible.
The posts that he seemed to enjoy so much transcend political opinions and, as bloggers such as Reality Steve noted, cross the lines of what is considered basic human decency.
One of the worst posts that he “liked” labeled the survivors of the February 14 Parkland shooting as “crisis actors.” It has not even been four months.
He would have had to have made a total personality turnaround in a very short time.
Has becoming famous and being held responsible for his abhorrent opinions made Garrett into a better human being overnight?
Or has he simply become embarrassed that he was exposed?