Chris Harrison ‘Sorry’ for Defending Controversial ‘Bachelor’ Cast Member Rachael Kirkconnell
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Chris Harrison has apologized after making comments about a racial controversy involving a Bachelor frontrunner Rachael Kirkconnell.
The 49-year-old host took to Instagram late Wednesday and told his followers: “I am here to extend a sincere apology. I took a stand on topics about which I should have been better informed.”
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Harrison made the statement after an interview on Extra with ex-Bachelorette Rachel Lindsay. In it he suggested that Kirkconnell was entitled to “a little grace, a little understanding” and “a little compassion” over the photos taken three years ago.
At the center of the storm are pictures from 2018 that were posted to social media showing Kirkconnell, a 24-year-old graphic designer from Georgia, at an “Antebellum plantation-themed ball.”
ABC
As he discussed the images with Lindsay, Harrison said: “The woke police is out there. And this poor girl Rachael, who has just been thrown to the lions, I don’t know how you are equipped when you have never done this before, to be woke enough, to be eloquent enough, to be ready to handle this.”
The show’s current Bachelor, Matt James, who is Black, chimed in on the controversy surrounding Kirkconnell to ET.
“You have to be really careful about what you are doing on social media,” he told the show. “Rumors are dark and nasty and can ruin people’s lives. So I would give people the benefit of the doubt and, hopefully, she will have her time to speak on that.”
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