Rachel Lindsay calls out toxic "Bachelor Klan" fanbase, says producers treated her like a "token"

Vulture

"The franchise has spent 19 years cultivating a toxic audience," Lindsay explains in a New York magazine cover story, telling all about her Bachelor franchise experience. "They have constantly given it a product it wants: a midwestern/southern white, blonde, light-eyed Christian. Not all viewers are like that. My Higher Learning co-host and I have divided it — there is a Bachelor Nation, and there is a Bachelor Klan. Bachelor Klan is hateful, racist, misogynistic, xenophobic, and homophobic. They are afraid of change. They are afraid to be uncomfortable. They are afraid when they get called out." Lindsay says that she became known as "'That Rachel Lindsay,' the one who couldn’t stay quiet, who bites the hand that feeds, Bachelor Nation’s public enemy No. 1. Later, I would be known as the one responsible for (Chris) Harrison’s eventually leaving the franchise." In fact, Lindsay writes that she and Harrison had a cordial relationship -- until their infamous Extra interview in February. "I called him my fairy godfather. We’d had our highs and lows, but there had been mutual respect until this interview," she writes. "I felt disrespected, but I maintained my composure because I had to." As the first Black Bachelorette, Lindsay writes that "I had to be a good Black girl, an exceptional Black girl. I had to be someone the viewer could accept. And I was a token until I made sure I wasn’t. The thing is, the day I went on the show, I didn’t wake up and say, You know what? I’m going to start standing up for myself. I was taught at a very young age to speak up about injustices. It was no different with Bachelor Nation. And I don’t think they ever saw it coming." Lindsay also explains why the franchise's first lead was a Black woman and not a Black man: "An insider later told me they had been thinking of me as the first Black Bachelorette way back during my audition," she writes. "At the time, there had been a shift in leadership at ABC. Channing Dungey, who is a Black woman, had just taken over as president. At the TV upfronts, she said, 'There will be a lead of color while I’m here. I’m making it my priority.' They didn’t say this part, but it couldn’t be a man. A Black man going into the homes of white women and sleeping with their daughters is a narrative the audience still can’t accept. They’re protecting them from that, as we saw with the Matt James season — they didn’t even show him waking up with Rachael after their fantasy-suite episode, during which the lead spends the night with a finalist. So it had to be a Black woman." Lindsay also describes filming The Bachelor series, calling the mansion dirty and dilapidated. "The show tapes for ten weeks," she writes. "In the beginning, you’re stuck in the mansion. I hated it. I always tell people it was the dirtiest place ever. Think the movie The Money Pit. Once you get inside, you see the cracks in the foundation. Appliances don’t work; the backyard is not complete. (This in addition to 22 women living in three rooms.) By the time we left, my eyes were puffy. I had an allergic reaction from the lack of sleep, drinking too much, and feeling dehydrated." ALSO: Lindsay complains New York magazine used a "clickbait headline" for her article.