“The First Black Bachelor”
Matt got his own interview time next, and admitted to Emmanuel that there was “a lot of pressure” and he was under a lot of scrutiny as the first Black Bachelor. He felt like he was not just being asked to find love, but he was being asked to take on the weight of “everything that was going on in the country” regarding social justice.
He said that he wasn’t necessarily thinking about the pressure of the role, but more about how he came off to people.
“I think it’s just what we’re conditioned to do as Black men, making people comfortable with your Blackness and going above and beyond to show that in stature and in personality, you’re not as threatening as you come off as,” he said. “Those are the type of things that I was thinking about.”
But in the end, he didn’t regret the experience.
“I was able to learn a lot about myself through getting to meet so many wonderful women who were there for love,” he said, and it was “liberating” to feel comfortable telling someone he loved her.
