‘Bachelorette’ Alum Rachel Lindsay Blasts Hannah Brown for Deleting Southern Belle Photo

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Bachelorette star Rachel Lindsay is making her feelings very clear when it comes to exhibitions of racism from other contestants on the reality dating show. Lindsay hosted an Ask Me Anything segment with her Higher Learning podcast co-host Van Lathan on Redditt where she fielded questions on all things related to the franchise — including the recent debacle with the current Bachelor contestant Rachel Kirkconnell and Hannah Brown deleting her “southern belle” photo from Instagram.

“I think there is a reason that her comments on the situation lacked substance,” she said, referring to Brown’s apology for accidentally using the N-word. “Wait seriously? This is why actions speak louder than words,” Lindsay wrote of Brown’s photo. “This is why we have uncomfortable conversations and this could have really been a big teaching moment. We can’t continue on a path of pretending things did not happen or running away from them. We do not ‘learn and grow’ from that.” Brown’s picture was of the Tuscaloosa Belles, a charity organization that encourages women to be involved in their community.

She also went on to discuss if she had any plans to leave her current role as a co-host on ABC’s Bachelor Happy Hour podcast. “My contract with BHH. I was already was considering leaving but I love Becca,” she wrote, referring to her co-host Becca Kufrin. “Now I am just exhausted and really need to separate myself from direct affiliation with the franchise. I don’t want to be a part of something that is representative of the franchise at the moment.”

Additionally, she also talked about the controversy with another contestant during her season, Lee Garrett. Garrett was accused of being racist after a number of racially charged tweets from his account surfaced. “There was a time where I truly wanted to believe that Lee [Garrett] slipped through the cracks but I now know better. I really think Lee was casted (SIC) to add controversy and they also knew I would not pick him,” she wrote. She went on to compare the situation to the current controversy at hand saying, “I do think Rachael slipped through the cracks. I do not think they were aware of all the things that she is connected to or that she did.”

Bachelor host and producer Chris Harrison went under fire for his response to Kirkconnell’s situation after seemingly defending her past actions, asking Lindsay if the uproar is largely due to the current timing. He’s since apologized for his words and announced he will be temporarily taking a break from the show. “I took a stance on topics about which I should have been better informed,” his Feb. 10 statement read. “While I do not speak for Rachael Kirkconnell, my intentions were simply to ask for grace in offering her an opportunity to speak on her own behalf. What I now realize I have done is cause harm by wrongly speaking in a manner that perpetuates racism, and for that, I am so deeply sorry.”