Matt James is making history after being cast as the first-ever Black lead for The Bachelor‘s Season 25.
James, a 28-year-old real estate broker, entrepreneur and community organization founder, was previously set to be one of the contestants on Clare Crawley‘s season of The Bachelorette before production was halted in March and postponed indefinitely due to the coronavirus pandemic.
“Matt has been on our radar since February, when producers first approached him to join Bachelor Nation as part of Clare’s season. When filming couldn’t move forward as planned, we were given the benefit of time to get to know Matt and all agreed he would make a perfect Bachelor,” ABC president Karey Burke said in a news release.
“We know we have a responsibility to make sure the love stories we’re seeing onscreen are representative of the world we live in, and we are proudly in service to our audience. This is just the beginning, and we will continue to take action with regard to diversity issues on this franchise.
“We feel so privileged to have Matt as our first Black Bachelor and we cannot wait to embark on this journey with him,” Burke added.
The announcement comes after the Bachelor Diversity Campaign’s petition was released, which asked The Bachelor to diversify the cast on the long-running reality TV dating competition.
The petition, which was launched on Monday, said Bachelor Nation wants ABC and Warner Bros. to take actions to help combat racism, including casting a Black bachelor as the Season 25 lead.
On Friday, The Bachelor announced James as the next Bachelor on Twitter.
Over 40 seasons of The Bachelor/Bachelorette, there has been only one Black lead — Rachel Lindsay, who was the Bachelorette in 2017.
Earlier this week, Lindsay shared a blog post calling for the “systemic racism” within the franchise to be acknowledged.
After making headlines earlier this month for speaking out in an interview with Afterbuzz, saying she can’t be “affiliated” with The Bachelor if they don’t change, Lindsay is further discussing her stance.
“Recently, I have received many questions regarding the headlines stating that I will leave the Bachelor franchise if changes to address the lack of diversity in lead roles are not established,” Lindsay began her blog post.
“You have often heard me say in interviews that I never watched any Bachelor franchise show prior to being a contestant on it. It is not because I am not a fan of reality television because I watch a good share of that on the weekly. It is because Black people know historically and presently that the show is not formatted for their success,” Lindsay wrote.
“But when I was asked to be the Bachelorette, I knew this was asking something completely different from me. I ultimately decided to be the Bachelorette because I knew this opportunity was bigger than me. I knew that I wanted to present myself to an audience that had not seen a lead of colour in this role.”
The Bachelor alum said she’s tired “of asking for change” and that the whole franchise needs a “diversity makeover.”
Lindsay suggested that the franchise begin to “cast leads that are truly interested in dating outside of their race; stop making excuses for the lack of diversity and take action to rectify the problem; diversify the producers on the show to make your contestants of colour feel more comfortable; and stop creating problematic storylines for people of colour.”
Many fans of The Bachelor took to Twitter after it was announced that James would be the next Bachelor.
No premiere date for the new season of The Bachelor has been set.
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