‘The Bachelor’ Contestant Drops Racism Truth Bomb on 'The Women Tell All' Special
One of this season's bachelorettes admits she’s ashamed of her actions.
Bachelor competitor Greer Blitzer stole the spotlight on Tuesday night’s “The Women Tell All” special to apologize for defending blackface.
Controversy had erupted after tweets Greer—who pursued Zach Shallcross—allegedly wrote in 2016 resurfaced this season.
At that time, the then-18-year-old expressed her view that it was wrong to criticize a fellow teenage classmate who wore blackface at a party.
"The students involved didn't even know what blackface was so my point exactly. It wasn't an intentional racist act," Blitzer, now 24, tweeted back then.
Greer joined her fellow eliminated bachelorettes on the ABC special and hit the hot seat with host Jesse Palmer. when he brought up “troubling social media posts,” which Greer had previously apologized for online.
She addressed the issue head-on and again apologized for her uninformed comments in 2016.
“What happened was racist,” she said, getting choked up and pausing.
“It’s not about the intent, it’s about the impact and this acquaintance of mine, that I knew, performing blackface was racist. My defending it was racist. My ignorance was racist and I’m just so ashamed.”
The brunette continued, “I’m just deeply sorry that I hurt the Black community. I can’t go back in time. All I can do is try to do better now and try to do better in my future.”
Jesse noted that Greer had met with Dr. Kira Banks, a diversity, inclusion, and equity consultant.
The Bachelor contestant said, “She brought to my attention that it’s so important to be openminded and so important to question things and ask and not just do without thinking. Before you speak, think. Before you say something that could hurt someone else. And do research.”
Greer told the studio audience she took those lessons to heart: “I really wanted to dive deep into the history of blackface and understand why it was wrong, why it was offensive and the research I was able to do, I just realized it was a symbolism for dehumanizing the Black community and so what I said was wrong. What I said was defending that girl was racist and I want to take that accountability. I don’t want to excuse it.”
Dr. Banks, who was sitting in the audience, said, “I think it’s important to name and give voice when these sort of issues come up, when racism comes up, to be willing to name it.”
As fans know, Zach eliminated Greer during the Hungary portion of The Bachelor after they both had recovered from Covid-19.
He told the beauty, who received his first impression rose, that they’d had too much time apart.
Because his connections with other women were stronger, he sent crying Greer packing.
Zach has three women remaining on the show—Ariel Frenkel, Kaity Biggar and Gabi Elnicki.
