Jenn Tran has recently spoken out against the racist comments she has received since becoming the first-ever Asian-American Bachelorette on the hit ABC franchise.
Tran went on the podcast, Call Her Daddy, on June 26th, to talk about her experience on The Bachelorette, and opened up about the racism she experienced after se was cast as the face of the franchise’s upcoming season.
“There’s no running around it. I came back from filming and there was a lot of people wanting somebody else or wishing that I was American,” said Tran, according to The Mirror US. “There’s a lot of racism around it too. There’s just a lot of people who want to have input on it and and wish that it was somebody else and whatnot. I think that you just can’t win.”
“I lived my whole life having some people telling me racism doesn’t exist. Like, Asians don’t have to deal with it. Like, you’re the better minority. Nobody cares,” Tran added. “To have these things about me said online, particularly about my race, it just validates the fact that there is so much hate in people’s hearts still.”
The Bachelor franchise and fandom has had a history of racism and vitriol towards non-white contestants in the past. Previous Black contestants have spoken out about the show’s problem with race. During the The Women Tell All of Season 28 of The Bachelor, contestant Rachel Nance, who is of Filipino, Black, and Arab descent, recalled how “I got a lot of hateful messages … calling me the N-word or jungle Asian, all because I got a rose,” after the airing of the hometown episode.
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According to The Mirror US, earlier this year, when a journalist on an ABC panel with Bachelor producers asked them about the show’s racial issues, the producers allegedly dodged their response. When asked again, they remained silent.
In an interview with E! News, Tran revealed that she spoke with Bachelor Nation alum, Michelle Young, who lead season 18 of The Bachelorette, regarding advice on how to deal with racism.
“I really wanted a perspective from a person of color and just get to know what her experience was like and where to kind of go with it,” said Tran. “I know that being in the limelight, you get a lot of backlash for it and racism, specifically. And I wanted to know how she handled all that and whether she thought it was worth it in the end.”
Tran also said that Young “was really great with a lot of good guidance.”
“She was like, ‘There are gonna be haters out there, there’s gonna be racism out there, but know that you’re doing it for a reason and be strong-willed,” Tran told E!.
“We’re both in the same mindset in that we both want to keep making change happen, … And if we’re the people who are spearheading that, then all the better.”
Tran’s season of The Bachelorette, Season 21, is set to premiere at July 8, 8:00 PM ET/PT on ABC, and will be avaliable for streaming the next day on Hulu.
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