Season 21 of The Bachelorette made headlines when audiences discovered that not only would the titular bachelorette herself be the first Asian American lead in the show’s 21-year history, but also the first male Asian contestant on the show ever would be competing for her heart. Just four weeks in, however, Vietnamese American Thomas Nguyen was eliminated from the show, leaving without a rose from Vietnamese American bachelorette Jenn Tran in hand.
During his time on the show, Nguyen was portrayed as a villain constantly fighting with fellow contestants such as Devin Strader and Sam Nejad, according to Screen Rant. In an Instagram post following his elimination, Nguyen revealed that he has received racist hate online throughout the show’s airing.
“Over the last 5 weeks I’ve gotten racial slurs, go kill yourself, I hope you die and every other hateful message in between based off a character yall saw for 10 minutes about over 5 weeks,” he wrote.
Despite the hateful messages, however, Nguyen said that he was “blessed” to have been part of The Bachelorette experience. “I also got soooo much love and support from yall too and that means so much to me and my family that you can see through this,” he wrote.
The Bachelorette and the larger Bachelor franchise has long been criticized for its lack of diversity. After the first episode of Season 21 aired in July, Tran expressed excitement in a Glamour interview about her and Nguyen’s casting on the show, as well as disappointment that out of 25 men casted, only one was Asian.
“Knowing that my parents immigrated over here to give me a better life, the sacrifices that they made, and the internal battle that I have with giving back to them in everything and every way that I could but still trying to be independent…being a child of immigrant parents is something that not everybody can understand,” Tran told Glamour. “And so, having that conversation with Thomas N. really meant the world.”
“I can’t really speak to the casting process and the decisions that were made, but it is unfortunate that there weren’t a lot of Asian men this season,” she continued. “Asian men haven’t always seen themselves in this position, and I am hoping that me being here and Thomas N. being there, that the both of us can inspire other Asian men to realize that they can do this too if they want.”