Some legitimately shocking news come out of Bachelor Nation tonight, as THR reports that Chris Harrison—who’s hosted every incarnation of the series across its 19 years on American TV—will not be returning to the franchise for its next major installment. Harrison “stepped away” from The Bachelor last month, after coming under heavy criticism for his responses to critiques of contestant Rachael Kirkconnell (including an assertion that no one could have known, way back in the distant mists of 2018, that attending a party themed around the slave-owning South might not be a great thing to do). But that departure was always framed as a temporary measure—to the point that we speculated that it might not even extend past the final ceremony of the show’s most recent season. But no: Harrison is gone, apparently—at least, as far as the next regular season of The Bachelorette is concerned.
Instead, his duties—which range from Master Of Ceremonies, to interviewer, to awkward confidante—will be taken up by former Bachelorettes Kaitlyn Bristowe and Tayshia Adams, who’ll be advising whoever the show’s next star will be. Warner Horizon and ABC Entertainment announced the news tonight, adding that, “We support Chris in the work that he is committed to doing. As we continue the dialogue around achieving greater equity and inclusion within The Bachelor franchise, we are dedicated to improving the BIPOC representation of our crew, including among the executive producer ranks. These are important steps in effecting fundamental change so that our franchise is a celebration of love that is reflective of our world.”
As alluded to, Harrison’s departure was the most public-facing moment of a long-coming reckoning for the franchise, which has been criticized frequently over the last two decades for its treatment of race. (Consider this your regular reminder that Rachel Lindsay, the show’s first Black Bachelorette, didn’t show up until season 13.) Harrison issued a lengthy apology last month, highlighting and admitting to his apparent unwillingness to listen to Lindsay’s critiques of the show, Kirkconnell, and Harrison’s own attitudes during a high-profile Extra interview. (Among other things, said interview provoked a statement from the various BIPOC on the last season of The Bachelor, condemning any defense of racism, i.e., Harrison’s.)
All the being said, there’s still no indication that Harrison is gone from the franchise permanently. (Indeed, it’s not hard, in reality show cadences, to see the above statement as the first step toward some kind of redemption narrative.) For now, though, we get this unceremonious late-on-a-Friday news dump: The next season of The Bachelorette will be Harrison-less, for the first time ever.
33 Comments
Broke: “cancel culture is just being held accountable for your actions”(Insanely) woke: “cancel culture is just being held accountable for someone else’s actions for which you didn’t perfectly follow the script while trying to discuss.”Still eagerly waiting the first person of any influence to grow a pair and admit how insane this all is.
If I own a business, and your actions harm my brand, I’m going to fire you.If I own a business, and your inactions harm my brand, I’m going to fire you.When did you become so anti-business?
What evidence is there that this “harmed” the brand? Twitter outrages like this come and go five times a day.Frankly, if we’re going down that road, there’s plenty more evidence that signing Colin Kaepernick would have “harmed” a team’s bottom line. I don’t remember liberals’ response to that being this disingenuous “hey, he would have hurt the brand, I guess they made the right call” then.
Thanks for your dumb input.
“Still eagerly waiting the first person of any influence to grow a pair and admit how insane this all is.”That’s..already happened a hundred times.
With his particular case? I haven’t seen that.
Sorry, thought you were talking generally.
Oh fuck off Peirs Morgan
I gave you the star you were searching for.
I take it back. You’re not smart enough to be Piers Morgan.
Got the spelling right this time. Or did you misspell it purposely first to make it seem like you didn’t care that much?
No need for Kaitlin to be in there, just have Tayshia host on her own.
Does this show even need a host. Those VH1 dating shows never had one. The person looking for camera time I mean someone to love was the host.
Bro…you had one job.
Imagine F’ing up such a fundamentally stupid/easy/lucrative gig.
Dunkelman dunkelman dunkelmanDunkelman!
He has opinions about important matters!!!
Stick to your apolitical harem/arranged marriage show that’s somehow uncontroversial since we’ve all accepted it. I will say the child pageant shows and 90 Day Fiance are probably far worse and apparently we’re all cool with those too for some reason?
The dumbest part is that nobody is asking these dolts to be less bigoted or even think about why they have these views. All the studio suits want is for them not to be so blatantly hateful in public, and even that is too hard for them to manage.
Tell a few dad jokes. Tell us when one rose is left.Pat Sajak could do it in his sleep.
Pat Sajak did it while drunk.https://www.today.com/popculture/pat-sajak-vanna-i-hosted-wheel-while-drunk-1C9380192
Legitimately surprised by the fact that they moved away from Harrison. I guess it could be a temporary measure, but the difficulty of bringing him back is that the moment they do that it will remind everyone why he stepped away in the first place.It will be kind of interesting to see how it feels to watch the show without Harrison there as he has been that constant presence since the first episode.
I know. Where else could we possibly find a generic white guy game show host?
Instead, his duties…will be taken up by former Bachelorettes Kaitlyn Bristowe and Tayshia Adams,You know the cynical answer is the correct one: Will they be splitting one disgraced male host’s salary?
They won’t get anywhere near it. Combined.
True.
We Want Acho!!!
lol
was the party specifically referencing slave owning? or was it just set in the old south with mint-juleps etcetera and that was necessarily the slave-owning south? Because while the former is insane, with respect to the latter it’s not like we can ask them never to name their kids ridiculous things like “Beauregard” again or stop wearing silly hats…the Confederate battle flag is not part of the culture of the south, it’s a remnant of traitors, but how can we ask them to give up the silly hats?
“…attending a party themed around the slave-owning South might not be a great thing to do.”I mean, how could anyone think that was a bad idea that might offend some people?
Yeah Ryan Reynolds and Blake Lively, they had a plantation wedding and then she doubled down on it all – “Blake Lively’s heritage-y lifestyle site, Preserve, published a fashion editorial styled by the actress, and inspired by the pre-Civil War South. Titled “Allure of Antebellum,” the article hails the “innate sense of social poise” and “unparalleled warmth and authenticity” of the era’s Southern women.”They have apologized since, but c’mon people and don’t tell me 8 years ago was a different time when slavery was viewed as rad.
The only thing Chris Harrison did wrong was to tell people to take a moment and maybe not try to ruin a woman’s life. Apparently that’s a pretty radical position to take these days. What a shitty time to be alive.