‘The Bachelor’ addresses hateful comments from fans

Joey Graziadei‘s “The Woman Tell All” episode of The Bachelor aired Monday, March 18, took a moment to address “a noticeable rise in hate on social media” aimed at many of the ladies — particularly season 28 contestant Rachel Nance.

Nance, the daughter of an African American father and Filipino-American mother, struggled to hold back tears as she revealed that following hometowns, she’s been receiving “a lot of racist comments” toward her, calling her the N-word and “jungle Asian,” among other things, and TikTok videos insinuating they threw up every time she and Joey kissed.

Host Jesse Palmer responded by noting, “This season of The Bachelor, the love for these women, for the most part, has been really remarkable, but for all the love that Joey and these women have received, there’s also sadly been a noticeable rise in hate on social media.”

Palmer then asked, by a show of hands, how many of this season’s women — as well as some Golden Bachelor alums seated in the studio audience — had received hateful messages online. Nearly all the ladies raised their hands to indicate that they had.

“Here’s the thing Bachelor Nation,” Palmer said. “We love your strong opinions. I think it’s important that we uplift these women, who are brave enough to be vulnerable and to share their stories with Joey and with all of us at home. These women, they deserve our praise and not our hate.”

“I think people are so quick to be little keyboard warriors and kind of pop off because there’s no consequences, but we [the contestants] have to pay the consequences mentally and emotionally,” added Nance. “Just be kind. Your words have weight to them, and things that you say really hit home sometimes. Just be kind.”

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