Matt James becomes first black male lead in 'The Bachelor' history after thousands of petitions flood ABC office
On Friday, June 12, 'The Bachelor' announced Matt James as the next leading man of the long-running series, making the 28-year-old the franchise's first black male lead.
Before James, Rachel Lindsey had made history on 'The Bachelorette' Season 13 in 2017 by becoming the ABC franchise's first African-American female lead.
The announcement was made by 'Good Morning America' with a statement from ABC, saying that they were "privileged to have Matt" as the first black Bachelor. "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," the statement read. "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."
ABC's move comes after 'Bachelor Nation' had called for more diversity in the franchise and had supported a petition calling on ABC and executive producer Mike Fleiss to cast more people of color in the series. The petition, which stated that the lack of diversity in the franchise was "unacceptable", had garnered over 84,000 signatures as of June 12 morning. The petition also noted that in the combined 40 seasons of 'The Bachelor' and 'The Bachelorette', the only ever black lead was Lindsey.
James previously was cast as one of Clare Crawley's Bachelorette contestants. It is not yet clear whether James will continue to be one of Crawley's suitors. The production of the series is currently on hold because of the coronavirus restrictions. 'The Bachelorette' host Chris Harrison, however, in March had stated that it was possible that the cast could be restructured because of the pandemic.
Harrison, while talking about James, to Entertainment Tonight, last month had said: "As far as I know, (he'll still be a contestant). I mean, I have not heard anything different. I mean. I don't know if he wants to do this after quarantine, who knows? But as far as I know, yes."
James was in the news in April after Crawley appeared to call him out for being on the show for the "wrong reasons". She had tweeted about the men who would be attempting to woo her on national television and had claimed that some of them were there just to seek fame based on their pre-show behavior.
"If you are doing interviews and creating Cameo accounts before you are even on my season... you are in it for the wrong reasons... #dontwasteyourtime," she had tweeted. Crawley, in another tweet, added: "Respect the opportunity you’ve been given. Respect the rules. Respect me." James issued a clarification tweet later, saying that he was active on the Cameo app to raise money for coronavirus relief efforts.
In an apparent response to Crawley's tweet, James wrote on his Instagram story: "Now for those of you who may have missed the messaging earlier this week, myself and Alex Bachman ... pledged all of our Cameo earnings to the Robin Hood Foundation to fight this fight. We're just coming up with creative ways to raise money for these kids that are the future and I hope y'all can help."