‘The Bachelor’: Why Rachel Lindsay Won’t ‘Give an Opinion’ on Chris Harrison’s Future With Series

As Bachelor Nation is fully aware, the franchise has been marred by controversy over the past month. The whole matter began in early February when Chris Harrison took part in an Extra interview conducted by former Bachelorette Rachel Lindsay, during which he defended current contestant Rachael Kirkconnell’s alleged pre-show racist actions. He subsequently issued an apology and announced that he would take a step back from the franchise. Currently, it’s unclear what his future with The Bachelor and its associated spinoffs will look like. However, Lindsay, who has been targeted by online harassment following the interview, recently shared that she will not be giving her opinion as to whether Harrison should remain a part of the franchise or not.

During an episode of her Higher Learning podcast with Van Lathan, Lindsay explained that her opinion on Harrison’s future with the Bachelor franchise isn’t the most important viewpoint amidst the conversation surrounding the host and the franchise’s issues concerning race. She said, as Entertainment Tonight noted, “I’m not going to give any opinion on what I think should happen with the franchise, what I think his role should be moving forward. I think something is getting lost here. And that is, I’m not on the show anymore.”

“I’ve been on Bachelor, Bachelorette, I found my husband, I moved on,” Lindsay continued, in reference to her husband, Bryan Abasolo, whom she met on The Bachelorette and later married in 2019. “I think we need to be hearing from the people who are currently in the franchise and for the future people who are coming on the show.” She added that she wants to hear from others within the franchise about this topic as “what Chris did has a trickle down effect for all people of color who were affiliated with the franchise and who will be in the future, assuming it continues.” Lindsay said that some want to make it a “Chris versus Rachel” issue, but that it needs to be about the feelings that people of color from the Bachelor franchise have regarding this matter.

“It’s not, ‘What does Rachel think about what Chris said?’ Chris said it. What he said was problematic, which we’ve all recognized, so how do the people feel who were impacted by that?” she added. “I think that’s the question we need to be asking.” Lindsay’s recent statements come after Harrison spoke out about the situation on Good Morning America, during which he told anchor Michael Strahan that he “made a mistake” with how he handled the interview with the former Bachelorette star. Harrison will not appear on The Bachelor’s After the Finale Rose special that traditionally airs after the finale. He will be replaced by former football player Emmanuel Acho. But, when it comes to Harrison’s future with the franchise, it’s unclear whether he will remain as the host.