‘Bachelorette’ Alum Rachel Lindsay Doesn’t Think There Will Be Another Black Lead

Former Bachelorette Rachel Lindsay is coming forward to admit she’s “not hopeful” that there will be another black lead on the hit reality series. Lindsay was the first woman of color to step into the leading role in 2017 but since then, there hasn’t been one, and there hasn’t been a male of color in the Bachelor position either.

“I’m not hopeful at all,” the 34-year-old told Us Weekly. “That’s why I keep talking about it because maybe it’ll start the conversation and maybe it’ll change.”

What reignited the conversation was the fact that Mike Johnson wasn’t cast as the Bachelor coming off of Hannah Brown’s season — a contestant who was a fan-favorite. Instead, Peter Weber filled the shoes.

“If Mike can’t get it, what’s the reason?” she asked before mentioning other black contestants like Seinne Fleming and Tayshia Adams who could have filled the leading roles. “Even after me, you’ve had Sienne, you’ve had Tayshia. Not that Hannah B. was bad. But she was number nine. Tayshia was number three [of Colton Underwood’s contestants]. Usually the system picks one of the top four, why not? Before, the excuse would be, ‘No one is making it far enough.’ Now they are. So now what?”

While Lindsay may be losing hope, her husband, Bryan Abasolo, still thinks the show could make it happen for the 25th season.

“I hope next year, the 25th Bachelor anniversary, they go back and choose Mike. If not, there’s another great candidate,” he said.

While she is campaigning for there to be men and women of color in the leading position, she does make it clear that she has nothing against Weber, even though she did tell him face-to-face he wasn’t her first pick.

“I told him, ‘Listen, I think that you are great. This is nothing personal against you. I don’t know what you’ll hear, but I was a proponent for Mike being the Bachelor. Please don’t take this in a negative way, but I feel it is my place to advocate for him because I don’t know who else is going to. Because of the way that I look and the way he looks and I do think he’s a good candidate, I’m going to support him, but it’s not against you,” she said.

Though she was honest with him, the Delta pilot took it well.

“He totally appreciated it, and then he goes, ‘I actually don’t have my phone right now, so I can’t see anything that’s going on in the media.’ I was like, ‘Oh, here I go! Being too honest.’”