‘The Bachelor’: How Taylor Nolan Addressed Chris Harrison Controversy Before Her Own Scandal

Former Bachelor contestant Taylor Nolan recently came under fire for a series of unearthed tweets from 2011 and 2012 that were offensive to the LGBTQ, Asian, Jewish, Indian, and Chinese communities (several of her past messages were also fat-phobic). Nolan has since spoken out about the matter and issued her apology to the BIPOC community. As Bachelor fans know, this scandal comes as the longtime host of the franchise, Chris Harrison, has also found himself at the center of controversy after he defended current contestant Rachael Kirkconnell over her alleged pre-show racist actions when former Bachelorette Rachel Lindsay brought up the topic during an Extra interview in early February. Prior to her own scandal, Nolan did address the situation concerning Harrison and Kirkconnell, as Newsweek noted.

Nolan posted several messages in regards to the scandal surrounding Harrison. She posted one video in which she called on the white contestants within the Bachelor franchise to use their platforms in order to denounce racism and to speak out about the glaring issues about the ABC show and its spinoffs. She said, in a lengthy Instagram video that was posted in early February, “When white former leads, when white former contestants watch that interview what was wrong to you? How can you educate your audience to say, ‘This is why that was wrong?’” She went on to urge the white individuals within the franchise to use their own words in order to educate their followers rather than re-posting a message from someone else who has already addressed the matter.

In a separate post, she criticized Harrison for saying that people should give Kirkconnell “grace” after individuals unearthed the contestant’s offensive social media posts, including one in which she could be seen attending an “antebellum plantation themed” fraternity formal in 2018. She also called for Harrison to be fired following the interview. Her message read, “[Harrison] deserved ZERO grace, he was aggressive and abusive to [Lindsay] during that entire interview & truly showed himself… Do NOT continue to push that black women must be graceful and digestible for you by praising them for it as they’re being attacked rather than condemn your fellow white man perpetuating the abuse that you’re apparently so against.”

Harrison has since stepped back from the Bachelor franchise and will not be hosting the upcoming After the Final Rose special that typically airs after the finale. He will be replaced by Emmanuel Acho, a former NFL linebacker and the author of Uncomfortable Conversations with a Black Man. The longtime host of the franchise also issued an apology for his words. Like Harrison, both Nolan and Kirkconnell have also since issued apologies for their unearthed social media posts.