ABC’s “The Bachelor” dating franchise has a relationship with race and diversity that can be summed up in a Facebook update: It’s complicated.
This summer’s 12th season of “The Bachelorette” began with a half-Iranian star, Joelle “JoJo” Fletcher, and five non-white suitors. But after Tuesday’s third episode, Fletcher eliminated four of those five bachelor contestants. All 20 white contestants remain in contention to get the final rose.
That continues a troubling pattern for a show that has all too often failed to feature non-white contestants. Though 2014 “Bachelor” Juan Pablo Galavis was Venezuelan-American, there still hasn’t been an African American or Asian “Bachelor” or “Bachelorette” in 32 seasons of the franchise.
And even when non-white contestants are cast, they seldom go very far. As documented by Karen X. Cheng, a blogger who also makes commercials for brands like Beats By Dre, 24 Hour Fitness and Apple, people of color fare about as well in “The Bachelor” franchise as they do in horror movies — a genre depressingly famous for killing off non-white characters early on.
The WRAP:
