Rachel Lindsay Is Done with Bachelor Nation, Will Not Renew Contract After Chris Harrison Controversy

Rachel Lindsay is slamming the Bachelor Nation franchise and says she’s done once her contract is over.

The 35-year-old reality star was previously the first Black Bachelorete back in 2017 and now she works as a correspondent for Extra.

Rachel interviewed host Chris Harrison this week and they had a 14-minute conversation about current The Bachelor contestant Rachael Kirkconnell and the backlash over her past racist behavior.

During the interview, Chris defended Rachael and constantly undermined the points that Rachel was making. He later apologized for perpetuating racism within the franchise.

Now, Rachel is speaking out about what happened this week.

“I can’t take it anymore,” she said on the Higher Learning with Van Lathan and Rachel Lindsay podcast. “I’m contractually bound in some ways, but when it’s up, I am, too. I can’t. I can’t do it anymore.”

Click inside to read what else she had to say…

Rachel added, “When I finished that interview with Chris Harrison, he had no problems with it. He was fine. He texted me after. He appreciated the conversation. … He was like, ‘Yeah, I’ll probably get a little flack,’ but thought it was great that we could disagree but do it in a civil way. It wasn’t until the backlash came the next day, it wasn’t until people start talking, people start demanding and calling for different things, that he then apologized to me and then apologized publicly.”

“I’m trying to reason — well, which one is it? Because to me, Tuesday was your truth and Wednesday is after the fact. Wednesday was a response to the backlash,” Rachel continued. “During that whole conversation, he had the audacity to question me. During that conversation, he talked over me and at me. During that conversation, his privilege was on display. He never gave me room to talk, and he never gave me room to share my perspective. He wasn’t trying to hear it, he was just trying to be heard. And I’m not saying that he can’t be apologetic, I’m not saying that he can’t learn and be better from it, like he said in his statement. But you’ll have to give me some space, and you’ll have to give me some compassion and some grace to take the time to really reason and accept that. Because that was a lot.”

Rachel talked about how Chris is the “spokesperson” for the franchise, so his statements show that there are issues within Bachelor Nation.

“People go to him for his opinion on what’s going on within the franchise, for production and what’s happening with contestants. So if he’s speaking out in an interview, in this way, to discuss things related to the Bachelor franchise, then what does that really say about the franchise? What does the franchise really represent and mean, if this is your face, this is your spokesperson, and this is what he really feels?” she said.

She continued, “[Chris] said, ‘I promise to do better.’ I need people to stop making these statements. What does that look like? What does doing better look like? How are you going to be better? That is what I want to know. You putting out a statement and disappearing for a few days, weeks, that ain’t better. How is Chris Harrison going to be better? Can that please be the next tweet, the next post, of you telling me what you did wrong, because I need to see it, and then how you’re going to be better with that.”

Rachel also discussed how she’s done with the franchise.

“As far as me, I’m f–king tired. I’m exhausted. I have truly had enough,” she said. “My entire reason for doing The Bachelorette — and I was lucky it worked out for me in the most beautiful way, in finding Bryan — is that I wanted to be representative as a Black woman to this audience. And I wanted to pave the way for more people to have this opportunity. In some ways, that has happened. I wanted the franchise to be better. I have a love-hate relationship with it. I’m connected to it.”

“It did stuff for me, and I’ll never forget that,” she added. “But how much more do I want to be affiliated with this? How much more can I take of things like this? I said I was going to leave if they didn’t have leads of color. Okay, they did that, and they made some other changes. They hired a diversity consultant. … Did Chris Harrison not sit through that?”