Rachel Lindsay speaks on 'Bachelor' diversity problems and Hannah Brown's apology

"There has been one person of color in 40 seasons." As the only black lead to appear on "The Bachelorette," Rachel Lindsay knows that people turn to her for comments regarding racial equality surrounding the ABC franchise.

I wanna talk a little bit about howyou and I actually had a discussionand I hope you don't mind me sharing this,but, privately, in which it's part of my jobto, obviously, reach out for comments,sometimes, for storiesand as the only black Bachelorette,many times, throughout, since you've been the Bachelorette,people turn to you for comments about racial issuesregarding The Bachelorette, so it's whether Mike Johnson,should he be the black Bachelor?How do you feel about being the only black Bacheloretteat the reunion?Things like that and I know, at one point,you expressed, you know,"I'm tired of being that voice, always,"of having to speak out and getting backlash and saying"I'm, quote, bitter,"so, for me, I responded to you and I said,"You know, keep doing that because there are people"that need to here your voice,"and so that was a private interaction that we had,but I'm so happy to see you now embracing that completelyand so what created that shift in you?Yeah, I mean, I distinctly remember that conversationthat we were having and I've always been vocal,I just think now it's being emphasizedbecause of what's happened in our country.I mean, last year, when Mike was not picked,I was extremely vocal about it and I was labeled,as I told you, as being bitter and always complainingand always having a problem with something in the franchiseand it's like, no.I wake up every morning and I see myselfand I see myself as a black womanand I'm a part of a franchise where,when it comes to who leads it, nobody looks like me.I was having this conversation with a friend, where I said"We have now casted for 40 seasons,"even though they haven't started Claire's.There has been one person of color in 40 seasons.We have 45 presidents, there has been one person of color.We are literally on par to say that you are more likelyto become the president of the United Statesthan you are to be the lead of this franchise.That is insane.And so how can I sit back and be quiet,when I am a part of something that isn't as supportive,or doesn't reflect who I am.I feel like if anybody was in my position,you couldn't sit quiet about that,so now that this is something that affects the worldand we're sitting here talking about the problemin our country and all these systemsthat need to be changed,how do I not look back at the system that I'm a part ofand speak out towards that?And I don't think that anyone would fault me,a higher up in the franchise, for saying that.I think that if they reflected on what's been going onand what they've done, they would see the problemsin the way that they've, you know,this franchise has functioned.And I dunno if you can speak to that,but have execs, or anybody, I don't know, Chris Harrison,anybody who's at the face of The Bachelor franchiseever spoken to you about this and said, you know,"Keep speaking up, we're okay with it."I think that, no one has spoken out to me as of lately.Oh, well, that's not true, someone has, but I think thatand I feel like I've been a little bita part of the problem, we continue to make excusesas to why we haven't seen this change.You know, you continue to say"Oh, well it's just because the lead"hasn't picked a person of color that's gone far enough.""Oh, this person was more qualified for this person.""Oh, the audience liked this person more."But that's not true and I spoke out about this last year.Once I saw what they did in Bachelor in Paradise,by bringing in somebody who was not even a cast memberin Kristian,to facilitate this relationship between Demi and Kristian,I know that that franchise has the power to dowhatever they want, including having a lead of colorand it's time to stop making excuses.I sit quiet sometimes and I don't speak out,when I know that, "No, actually, you really could do more"if you wanted to."And so I think that I, like, when I look at what's happeningin our country and then I look at the franchise,I can't continue to be affiliated,it's embarrassing, honestly, at this point,to be affiliated with a franchise whois not on the right side of this, in my opinion.Right.I know you said that you didn't wannatalk about this too much,but Hannah Brown, she has issued a new videowithin the past couple days, a lengthy videowith an apology about her saying the N word,or singing it.You were outspoken about the fact thatyou thought that her initial apologywasn't really good enough and then that you had invited herto do an Instagram live with youand then she later rescinded that,whether because it was through her team,or whatever the case may be.What are your thoughts on the most recent video apologythat she gave?I mean, I don't wanna critique an apology,an apology is an apology, it was solid and it was heartfelt,which is exactly what I would expectwhen it takes you two weeks to put out an apology.I mean, it should've been all those things,it's two weeks.She mentioned in that apology that she's doinga lot of time, right now, to educate herself.I mean, what do you think about that?I know you said you don't wanna judge her apology too much,but do you believe that that's the best course, or route?Do you think it was genuine, what she said?Yeah, I'm not gonna judge if your apologywas genuine or not.I wanted her to do a live video so people could see herand she did it and it came across as genuine to meand I'm not gonna judge what was in her heart, you know?I know when I talked to her on the phone,two weeks ago, when it happened,she was upset at what she did,so I feel like her apology was genuine.I think the thing is is there were a lot of thingsthat were promised in the apology,as far as she's gonna take action,so I think people are watching for that.I think it's, well, okay, well, let's see what you doat this point.You know, apology's one thing, you promised action,so let's see what action.Right, that's a good point.So I'm assuming you guys haven't been in touch.Do you plan on maybe having any more conversations with her?No.I mean, I don't plan on having any conversations.Neither one of us have reached out to each other,And if she did, would you be open to talking to her?I mean, sure.I don't think I would do a livelike I had proposed before, but, you know,anybody who's willing to learn and to grow,you know, based on their own admitted ignorance,I'm not going to be the oneto push you away from that, you know?If you have a question, I'd be more than happy to answer it.