Rachel Lindsay wants Bachelor Nation to take a pause amid the controversy swirling around the franchise.
Lindsay, who was the first black “Bachelorette,” said producers need to take a break to “figure things out” after host Chris Harrison stepped away from the series for defending current contestant Rachael Kirkconnell in light of her past racist actions.
“They’re about to go into production for ‘The Bachelorette’ … [and] I think they should just stop until … they get the train back on the tracks,” Lindsay, 35, said on Tuesday’s episode of her podcast with Van Lathan, “Higher Learning.”
She added, “You’re going to go another season, but you still have all of these issues. How have you fixed them coming into a new season? You really haven’t. I think that they need to take a beat, figure things out, regroup and then bring the product back to us in a way that we can all enjoy it like we used to.”
As previously reported, “The Bachelorette” is expected to start filming next month at a swanky New Mexico resort — although it’s still unknown whether Harrison is leaving “The Bachelor” and “The Bachelorette” for good or merely taking a break.
Lindsay — who interviewed Harrison when he made the controversial remarks —previously said that she was planning to leave the franchise in the wake of everything happening.
Once she received harassment from fans, she deleted her Instagram account.
The show’s producers defended Lindsay, but it may be too little too late — for everyone involved.