Bachelor Matt James On Ever Getting Back With Rachael Kirkconnell, ‘Frustrating’ Conversations About Race
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“Come on @bachnation not all multiracial people look the same,” Pieper James responded after being tagged in a tweet promoting a story about Serena Pitt.
The Bachelor franchise just keeps wading deeper and deeper into the wrong side of the ongoing conversation about race, one fresh mistake at a time.
This time, producers quickly deleted and apologized for a promotional tweet mixing up two multiracial contestants from Matt James’ just-completed season, but not before the wrong contestant tagged in said article noticed it and called them out for their mistake.
“Let’s get to know the wonderful @pieper_jamess a bit more!” the official producers Twitter account (@bachnation) tweeted out, only they shared a link to the story, “20 Questions with Serena Pitt: Get to Know the Bachelor Nation Star a Bit Better!”
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Even with Serena’s name in the article they were citing, whoever actually drafted and/or published that tweet still managed to tag Pieper. Their names don’t even start with the same letter, so autofill can’t be blamed!
Pieper — probably because she was tagged, after all — quickly saw what had happened and responded, calling out the producers for their mistake.
“I mean @serena_pitt is beautiful and I would be glad to be mistaken for her but come on @bachnation not all multiracial people look the same,” she said in response to the now-deleted tweet.
I mean @serena_pitt is beautiful and I would be glad to be mistaken for her but come on @bachnation not all multiracial people look the same. https://t.co/CkJpCTfHvG
— Pieper James (@pieper_jamess) March 18, 2021
@pieper_jamess
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Bachelor Nation removed their initial tweet, and released a statement apologizing for their mistake, offering the explanation that it was a “typo” in their “scheduling system.”
“Pieper and Serena, we sincerely apologize for the error in our previous tweet, in which Pieper was accidentally tagged to a feature on Serena,” producers said in the statement. “Was caused by a typo in our scheduling system for a future post. We appreciate you holding us accountable.”
Issues with race remain at the forefront of almost any conversation involving the Bachelor franchise, even as it concludes its first-ever season with a Black lead.
Unfortunately for Matt James, his winner wound up being the season’s most controversial contestant for antebellum-themed photos and other problematic likes and images from her past.
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As these surfaced early in the season’s run, Matt and Rachael Kirkconnell ultimately broke up over them, with him saying she needs time herself to do the work to really understand why that imagery is offensive, and to really understand what it means for him to be a Black man.
Before the season had wrapped, host Chris Harrison stepped into the mire himself with an awkward defense of Kirkconnell’s 2018 photos in an interview with the franchise’s first-ever Black Bachelorette, Rachel Lindsey.
That led to him temporarily stepping away, with recent Bachelorettes Kaitlyn Bristowe and Tayshia Adams sharing hosting duties on two new seasons of The Bachelorette, one each for fan-favorites from Matt’s season, Katie Thurston and runner-up Michelle Young.
The franchise moves forward, but it really needs to figure out how to do so more consciously and conscientiously when it comes to race and representation.
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