Bachelor, Bachelorette shows face class action lawsuit for racial discrimination


This is not one of the guys suing ABC. He hopes to be The Bachelor, though

I think it was that unfunny comic who dates hot women, what’s his name – David Spade, who recently brought up this issue in his Funny or Die Bachelor parody video, The Honest Bachelor. (TMZ also posed this question in one of their videos.) In that skit, Spade made a bunch of rude blunt comments as “The Bachelor.” It was actually pretty funny, so I should maybe revise my opinion of him. Spade quipped “Please don’t cut to a black contestant. Who am I kidding, there’s no black contestants on The Bachelor. It’s ABC, woo!” In the 10 years The Bachelor has been on the air, they’ve had occasional black contestants vying for a ring, but there’s never been a black Bachelor or Bachelorette. This issue comes up frequently, and now it’s definitely getting more press.

Two African American men are planning to sue ABC for what they claim is racial discrimination encountered during a casting call for The Bachelor in Tennessee. Both say they were pushed to the side and treated unfairly due to their race:

“The Bachelor” and “The Bachelorette” are about to get a thorny rose — in the form of a lawsuit.

We’re told the 2 plaintiffs — both African Americans — went to a Nashville hotel to audition for the role of bachelor. Christopher Johnson — an aspiring NFL player — claims when he arrived a producer asked him what he was doing there.

Johnson and the other plaintiff, Nathaniel Claybrooks, both say they were taken to the side of the room and left out of the normal audition process. Neither was called back, and they believe it’s because of their race.

They will be filing a class action lawsuit in federal court Wednesday AM. We’re told ABC, Warner Horizon Television, Next Entertainment, NZK Productions and creator Mike Fleiss, will all be sued.

[From TMZ]

The NY Daily News has an unintentionally hilarious quote that creator Mike Fleiss gave last year about how they’ve allegedly tried to promote diversity on these shows. He uses the word “wedge” to describe how they’ve added African American “chicks” once in a while.

I think Ashley is 1/16th Cherokee Indian, but I cannot confirm. But that is my suspicion! We really tried, but sometimes we feel guilty of tokenism.

Oh, we have to wedge African-American chicks in there! We always want to cast for ethnic diversity, it’s just that for whatever reason, they don’t come forward. I wish they would.”

This is Ashley Hebert, the last Bachelorette. She’s not blonde and has a Native American ancestor a few generations back so that counts, right?

I think people are ready to see a black Bachelor and/or Bachelorette and a racially diverse cast. Maybe this could even breathe more life into this vapid, tired franchise. It’s surprising to me that they haven’t even seemed to try to have more than one race on those shows. The Daily Beast had a good editorial on this a couple of years ago, and nothing has changed basically.

Here’s a successful sportscaster and former professional basketball player, Lamar Hurd, who is hoping to be the first black bachelor. He’s not one of the guys suing ABC. I got a little starry eyed watching this video, honestly. This guy has so much charisma and he looks like a male model. He’s also passionate about his nonprofit organization helping kids through basketball. Just watch him talk starting at around 3:10 and imagine you’re on a date with him. Compare Lamar to some of the total doofuses we’ve seen on The Bachelor lately. Jake, Brad and Ben all had the charm of a wet blanket and were dumb as boxes of hair.

The last three bachelors. I don’t get it. Jake was at least hot, but he turned out to be a total creep.

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48 Responses to “Bachelor, Bachelorette shows face class action lawsuit for racial discrimination”

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  1. mln76 says:

    As a black person I’m OK about not being part of that stupid and fake ass show.

    • po says:

      Exactly, u can keep this particular achievement to yourself.

    • Liv says:

      Come on, everybody should have the right to be a total dumbass on TV 😉

      Lamar is pretty hot by the way.

    • The Original Mia says:

      Exactly. We were don’t need to be part of this franchise. No need for racial equality with this dreck.

    • Gina says:

      Well, as a black woman, I insist that vacous black people have just as much right to demean themselves on TV for the entertainment of others. And that goes for Asians, Hispanics, persons with disability – everyone. Yes, I champion the rights of all stupid people!

      Also when do we finally see a gay version of this show?

      • Samigirl says:

        Gina, you win. I would KILL to see a gay version of The Bachelor. I don’t even watch these shows, but that, I would watch. Reminds me of the joke, “Gay marriage needs to be legal, because I would watch the hell out of Gay Divorce Court.” 😀

      • bluhare says:

        Samigirl, that is brilliant. Gay Divorce Court . . . it’s a television dream!!!

    • Jaye says:

      Amen to THAT!

  2. David says:

    Not many people of color. ABC should do better.

    • Rin says:

      I think it would open a barrel of worms if a black male bachelor picked a white chick. Not so much if a white dude picked a black chick or a black chick picked a white dude.

      It would pretty much make him a target for all sorts of haterade. I think that’s why it hasn’t happened.

      • Anait says:

        @Rin I shouldn’t talk about things I don’t know, I’m not American and I don’t follow this show, but I agree with you, you wrote exactly what I thought after reading this post… sad, isn’t it?

      • Leticia says:

        Rin, yes.

  3. lucy2 says:

    I would say they should hire Lamar, he’s attractive and charming and seems like a really nice guy – but that means he’s too good for that crap show.

    Other than getting their 15 minutes, I don’t know why anyone in their right mind would go on that show. It’s not real, it never works out, and most of the people seem miserable afterwards.

  4. marie says:

    I can’t bring myself to watch the show, but Mr. Hurd is way more attractive than any of the bottom 3 guys..

  5. Zelda says:

    Yep, Lamar Hurd seems like a perfect catch.

    Except for the fact that he wants to be on the bachelor.

    That revelation might be a “check please” moment on a date.

    • Neelyo says:

      Amen. I have no respect for anyone who wants to be on a reality show that doesn’t involve a skill.

  6. Agnes says:

    i can’t believe that ridiculous and insulting crap is still on tv (i find it insulting to both men and women). the lawsuit makes an excellent point, but it will be insanely difficult point to prove – i guess they just want to draw attention to the issue, which is great.

    and lamar is way too hot for that vapid pile of crap.

  7. BlackMamba says:

    I guess they`re afraid of losing their audience with a black bachelor. They probably don`t think that white women(their audience) could fantasize about a black man, would not identify with the whole thing and therefore would not watch. The bachelor always thought of itself as being superior to other similar shows(it`s not) so maybe they are afraid of a “Flavour of Love” situation not realizing that not all black people are the same just like the “Rock of Love” girls are different from The Bachelor girls. Either way I stopped watching that stupid show after the second season.

  8. Franny says:

    Ben was so boring to watch. I’m glad that disaster of a season is over.

    I liked Brad just because he seemed to work on himself more, but he was too in love with the show that Emily put on for me to really like him.

    *hangs head in shame*

  9. fabgrrl says:

    Why would Lamar Hurd need to be on a stupid show? A handsome, successful, charming guy like that should have nooooo problem getting ladies.

  10. Jayna says:

    The men only go on there to promote themselves or their business. Most still aren’t married to even anybody else years and years after the show, so were never looking for a wife, just fame. The women are so desperate looking and pathetic that I am embarrassed to be part of womankind sometimes.

  11. Zimmer says:

    Lamar’s hot!

  12. Dibba says:

    Show is so lame. Stopped watching years ago.

  13. Janet says:

    ZOMG!!! As if we black people don’t have enough problems already, now we have to be on some shallow, stupid, asinine, craptastic “reality” show? Hell to the no!!

  14. fabgrrl says:

    I don’t think that his lawsuit has any merit. The simple fact is that the people on these shows are ACTORS playing roles. A girl I went to high school was on one of these “reality” dating shows. She was an aspiring actress and model, but, surprise surprise, her “career” was listed as something else entirely on the show. So, the people hired are (non-union) actors and since actors are usually hired based on their appearance – the age, race, look, etc. that the role calls for, I don’t see a racial discrimination suit can get anywhere.

  15. Mitch Buchanan Rocks says:

    Was watching an early episode of baywatch and the same thing – only white people for early episodes.

  16. Gene Parmesan says:

    co-sign with all the commenters.I stopped watching cos its soo degrading to all involved. But i also gave it the *side eye* due to lack of diversity no asians, latinos, blacks nada. When in the real world there are thousands of IR
    lAMAR Come this way please…….

  17. Amy says:

    One of the Bachelorettes, Ali, did pick a Hispanic guy (Roberto). But that happened maybe once in 20 seasons or however the show has been long… I have occasionally watched (I’m white) and I always wondered why there were only white people on the show. I don’t think it would hurt the show’s ratings–It would a nice change and would mix things up a bit.

  18. Cali says:

    What black people watch the Bachelor…what people PERIOD watch the Bachelor? And what in the hell makes THIS guy think that he wasn’t selected because he was Black (but probably). By looking at him though, he would be a rating killer lol. He looks pretty lame and boring!!!!

    • Tiffany says:

      You should take the time to actually read the article. It wasn’t THIS guy who thinks he should be on the bachelor.

  19. Tiffany says:

    I don’t think it is so much about discrimination as business. They are trying to appeal to a target demographic, so they put people who mirror that demographic in the show.

    That said, I think they are underestimating the number of women that find males of different races attractive, and they aren’t attracting the wider demographic of viewers they could be getting. I never watch these shows anyway, not my thing at all. Just people being idiots for attention.

    • mln89 says:

      how exactly do you know that the race of the target demographic is? this is network t.v. i’m sure they want people of all races watching the show. they just don’t care to actually depict all races on the show, because they probably feel that white people are the most “relatable” and every one else is a “niche market”.

  20. Candyland says:

    Please don’t take this wrong. Why the hell would black people wanna do this dumb show? Gofor it if you wanna do it but it’s such a dumbdumb show I don’t get the intrest.

  21. mmhmm says:

    It’s about time. I was wondering when this would happen. I’ve watched the last few bachelor/bachelorette seasons (guilty pleasure) and have been shocked to see that every time the bachelor/bachelorette and ALL of the potential lovers are white. I’ve never seen a person of color on the show. It’s bad enough when a tv show features a basically all white cast with just a few token minorities, but to have NO minorities at all is grossly absurd. It’s obvious prejudice (which makes me even feel even guiltier for watching such a ridiculous show lol). BLEGH . And I hate that now they’re going to start featuring people of color only because they know they HAVE to. People of color should have been in the show all along. It’s as if the producer’s believe they are less romantically desirable than the other contestants. Ew. Why do I watch this trash. I guess its like a train wreck where you can’t look away…But really, bachelor. Get with the program. I’m surprised people weren’t talking about this before now.

  22. sup says:

    i hope they win!

  23. Stacia says:

    zzzzzzzzzzz…. I stopped watching this mess after about the 2nd season. All scripted anyway.

  24. Mia says:

    Um, yes, pick him! He seems much more intelligent, “real” and cool than the Bachelors I’ve seen on past shows.

    I agree, I don’t get it with the last 3 Bachelors either. Geez, is that the best we can do? Oh, and I didn’t find Jake hot at all–he seemed like a total dud to me personality-wise, up tight and not the least bit cool or sexy.

  25. Lisa says:

    Why are television shows so divided between these two races? If it’s not about white people then it’s about black people (although less so than whites). What about representing the minorities??

    A black bachelor/bachelorette would be great but I would love to see an Asian, Hispanic, Indian or whatever bachelor/bachelorette. I don’t think I’d watch a gay/lesbian version though.

  26. shawn says:

    So when is the lawsuit against American Idol for age discrimination, since the cutoff for contestants is age 28. In the superficial world of entertainment, discrimination is the norm. I just hope this lawsuit leads to age and sex discrimination also being addressed.

  27. lil says:

    Lamar is HOT. He can do better than The Bachelor.