'Bachelor' Star Colton Underwood Addresses Contestant Tracy Shapoff's Offensive Tweets

Colton Underwood's season of The Bachelor has yet to premiere, but ABC's new leading man is already addressing controversy regarding the women of Season 23.

In a conference call with reporters Wednesday, the 26-year-old former NFL player addressed old tweets from contestant Tracy Shapoff, which featured racist comments, fat-shaming and the use of the R-word.

"I don't believe in whatever Tracy liked and tweeted at the time," Underwood said, as reported by Entertainment Tonight. "[But] I think that's a growing thing."

As to whether the ABC reality show needs to revamp its background check process, Underwood said, "It's not up for me to decide."

"As the Bachelor, it's a good opportunity for me to get to really know these women and form my own opinions of them without really seeing that. That is a gift and a curse at times," he explained.

"As far as the process goes, you know, social media is becoming a challenge for every workplace. You're seeing it all over the world and in our society coming up, and everybody has differences in this world and like I said, but the bottom line is [The Bachelor changing their casting process is] not up to me. That's not my department or anything I need to have an opinion in," he added.

Since Shapoff's tweets resurfaced in December, the 31-year-old took to Instagram to share an extensive apology for her previous words.

"I want to start by expressing my sincerest apologizes for the extremely hurtful words that I said many years ago," Shapoff wrote. "I'm so sorry for those who I have offended. I am beyond mortified that I ever had those thoughts and then proceeded to express them. By no means does this reflect the person who I am today. To the people who do not know me, I am a loving, kind, thoughtful, generous, and compassionate woman. I am not mean-hearted or hurtful."

"The people I have always surrounded myself with are very diverse and come from all over the world," she continued. "I have a huge heart and a very open mind. In the many years since writing those tweets, I have made a conscious effort not to be judgmental and to be accepting of all people. I have gone into a field of work where I am able to help women and men have positive images of themselves, their bodies, and feel beautiful in who they are. It is the most rewarding feeling being able to work in such a diverse field. It shows me the beauty in all people and I am so lucky to have this opportunity."

To conclude, Shapoff said she could not "defend" her old tweets and said she hopes to "learn from my mistakes."

The Bachelor Season 23 premieres Monday, Jan. 7 at 8 p.m. ET on ABC.

Photo credit: Getty / Jon Kopaloff