Bachelor producers are getting candid about Matt James‘ season of the show. In an interview with The Los Angeles Times, executive producers Claire Freeland and Bennett Graebner admitted missteps in the season that featured the show’s first-ever Black lead.
“I’m going to be really frank — we let Matt down. That season went wrong on so many levels,” Graebner said. “We did not protect him as we should have.”
James’ season was embroiled in controversy when photos surfaced of eventual winner Rachael Kirkconnell at an Old South plantation-themed party while in college. She later apologized and asked people to stop defending her actions.
Later, longtime franchise host Chris Harrison defended Kirkconnell’s past racist actions, encouraging people to offer her “grace,” and speaking out against the “woke police,” during an interview with former Bachelorette Rachel Lindsay. He later apologized and was replaced as host by Jesse Palmer.
Though James ended his season by committing to a relationship with Kirkconnell, the pair revealed on the live portion of the finale that they’d called it quits amid her racism scandal.
“The finale of that season was the darkest day I’ve had on this franchise,” Graebner said. “Here was this great Black man, and we should have been celebrating his love story. Instead, what we saw was a man burdened and overwhelmed by issues of racism. It was really sad for me personally.”
Eventually, James and Kirkconnell reconciled and have been together ever since. While promoting his 2022 book First Impressions, James told ET of the franchise, “In essence, it’s not a bad show. There’s bad characters, there’s things that happen that make the experience different for everybody.”
“From everything that I’ve gained from it, from a relationship standpoint, and from personal growth and family bonding, I can’t go out there and say that there’s things that you wish you could change and conversations that you wish you could have back,” James added. “There were key people in that franchise that helped me through, so I’ll forever be indebted to that.”
However, racism struggles in the franchise, which predated James’ season, have continued.
“It’s hard to say out loud, that people of color didn’t see themselves represented, that they did not see The Bachelor franchise as a safe place,” Graebner said. “We didn’t have a Black lead in this franchise for 15 years, and that’s inexcusable. It created a vicious cycle, and it’s taken a lot of work to get back to a place where we feel at least we’re working for the positive.”
According to Freeland, “The core value to this show is that everybody deserves to find love, regardless of race, ethnicity, background, faith. The only way we can do that in a truly fulsome way is to have people on the show that reflect the country we live in.”
While there have since been leads of color — The Bachelorette had Black leads Michelle Young and Charity Lawson, and is gearing up for its first-ever season with Asian American lead Jenn Tran — there has not been another Black Bachelor since James. Graebner and Freeland agreed that it’s a “priority” to cast a Black Bachelor in an upcoming season.
“We’re not always going to get it right. We’re going to make mistakes as we move forward. But we’re not going to shy away from difficult conversations,” the former said, before the latter addressed fans of the franchise who may not be happy with a more diverse show.
“We can’t change the minds of people who aren’t interested in this new direction. What we have the power to do is change the program,” Freeland said. “There’s a reason why this show has been around for 20 years. The dream and desire for true love will never go out of style. We hope that people can look at the last couple of years and see that we are intending and taking steps to make the change.”
Graebner agreed, adding, “We know we’re not there. We have a long way to go. But we’re committed to getting there. If you don’t want to see a Black love story, an Asian American love story, an interracial love story, then maybe Bachelor Nation isn’t for you.”
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