How students feel about Matt James being the first African American Bachelor in history

By Hanna Hyland
November 12, 2020

Matt James is announced as this years newest bachelor. Photo Credits: Instagram

The fist African American bachelor is set to take lead on the hit ABC show “The Bachelor” in early 2021. This comes after 24 consecutive seasons of only white men and women cast as the leads in the Bachelor franchise.

Matt James, 28 years old, is an entrepreneur and real estate broker from New York City. He was originally cast to be a contestant on the current season of the Bachelorette with Clare Crawley, but as production was delayed due to the Covid-19 pandemic, show producers got to know him and decided he would make a great bachelor for season 25. 

The Bachelor franchise, which includes other shows as well including “The Bachelorette” and “Bachelor in Paradise,” averages about eight million views each episode. The franchise has been in the spotlight lately about the lack of diversity throughout the years. With the Black Lives Matter Movement being a top headline in the news right now, viewers are conflicted whether producers made this change to make their show look better, or do this because it needed to be done.

Evelyn Rose, junior marketing major, said, “Changes should have been done years ago, but at least with everything going on right now it is good they are finally doing something.”

Natalia Chiriaco, senior history political science and secondary education major, said, “I don’t think it’s ever too late to be proactive and really recognize that we need more than a white population in the franchise or any franchise currently on television.”

Rachel Lindsay Abasolo, seasons 13 first African American Bachelorette speaks on her opinions about the need for diversity in the franchise. photo credits: Instagram

Rachel Lindsay, the first African American Bachelorette, was the lead of season 13. She has been in the spotlight lately pleading for diversity in the franchise, and threatening to disconnect herself from “The Bachelor” community for good if changes are not made.

Chiriaco said, “Rachel Lindsay does have a really great point. She has been the only voice in the franchise standing up for diversity, and as of now has been the only person of color cast as the lead to voice her opinions.” She added that if Rachel left the franchise it would be for a good reason.

Rose said, “ Everything going on has been motivating people to speak out a lot more, so I completely agree with Lindsay.”

On the season where Lindsay was the bachelorette, it is rumored that viewership went down because people did not support having an African American Bachelorette. Chiaraico hopes that this season will be different for James, and that the current movements will be a positive thing for the franchise.

Megan Marley, junior early and special education major, said, “Twitter definitely played a huge role in the influence of casting a black bachelor. For years Twitter has been filled with comments that everyone on every season looked the same and change needed to be made.”

Collage of former Bachelors and Bachelorettes showing the common theme of race and ethnicity. Photo credits: Instagram

Although many see this as a positive thing, it also happened at a time where everyone is talking about the need for diversity. Chiriaco said, “Although it is good that they are making their show more diverse now, they also put themselves in a sticky situation because they did it at a very sensitive time. Now the mass media including television shows want to show they are diverse.”

Chiriaco added, “The franchise still has so much growth to do and we have never seen any other cultures including someone of Asian or Muslim decent. They still do need to do more.”

 

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Hanna Hyland

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