It’s been a monumental season for “The Bachelor”, but that’s come with plenty of controversy.
On Wednesday’s “Good Morning America”, ABC “Nightline” co-anchor Juju Chang shared never-before-seen interviews with season star Matt James and host Chris Harrison.
As Chang explains, the interviews were recorded before James handed out his first roses at the start of the season, and before recent events caused Harrison to step away from the show.
Matt James and Chris Harrison speak out on race in a never-before-seen interviews. @JujuChangABC has the details. https://t.co/ELxKuhauUq
— Good Morning America (@GMA) February 24, 2021
Asked why he thinks it took so long for the show to star a Black bachelor, James said, “I don’t know. I can’t speak on what took place before I got there, but I was honoured to be first, and hopefully the first of many.
“What I’m into and what I’m looking for isn’t race-specific. I’m looking for someone who’s caring, honest, loving, and passionate, and that happens to fall across a broad array of women.”
Harrison, meanwhile, was asked what it says about our culture that it took this long to have a Black bachelor on the show.
“I don’t know what that says,” he responded. “I’m a big fan of, ‘It’s never too late to do the right thing,’ and when that is done, that is good.”
The previously unseen interviews come amid criticism of the show on racial issues, including the revelation of three-year-old photos of one of this season’s frontrunners, Rachael Kirkconnell, at an antebellum South-themed college party.
After coming to Kirkconnell’s defence earlier this month during an interview on “Extra”, Harrison took a leave from “The Bachelor”.
Talking about so-called “cancel culture” in his earlier interview with Chang, Harrison said, “I like to be open. I wish people would be—when people sit and have these conversations, they’re scared, they’re worried.”
