Former Bachelorette star Hannah Brown is speaking out in the wake of backlash against Chris Harrison‘s recent comments.
Earlier this week, fans on Reddit uncovered photos of current Bachelor contestant Rachael Kirkconnell attending an antebellum-themed fraternity formal, a racist party tradition that glamorizes plantation culture and slavery. Kirkconnell is currently vying for the love of Matt James, the first Black Bachelor.
Harrison, the longtime host of the dating franchise, appeared on Extra with Rachel Lindsay, the show’s first Black Bachelorette, to defend Kirkconnell from criticism she received due to her past behavior.
After claiming that Kirkconnell was too young to grasp the problematic nature of the event, and falsely claiming that Old South parties were deemed more acceptable in 2018, Harrison said, “The woke police is out there. And this poor girl Rachael, who has just been thrown to the lions, I don’t know how you are equipped when you have never done this before, to be woke enough, to be eloquent enough, to be ready to handle this.”
