In an explosive development for the world of reality TV, ABC has announced that Chris Harrison will be leaving his role as host of The Bachelor/Bachelorette dating reality series after nearly two decades. His departure follows an incident in February 2021 when Harrison attempted to defend a contestant’s racist past behavior.
Wilson Wong and Diana Dasrath of NBC News have reported that Harrison “stepped aside from his role in February after he defended former Bachelor contestant, Rachael Kirkconnell, who was shown in photos attending an antebellum plantation-themed fraternity formal in 2018.”
Wong and Dasrath added that Harrison made the offensive comments defending Kirkconnell during a TV interview on Extra with Rachel Lindsay, a Black former contestant on the dating reality show.
