On Monday night, during the “Men Tell All” episode of The Bachelorette, Rachel Lindsay finally confronted contestant Lee Garrett about the racist and sexist tweets that he had put out during his time on the show.
It was a peaceable confrontation, relatively speaking, as Lindsay stated that she hoped Garrett would learn from the experience and grow from it. For his part, Garrett also apologized.
“I’m not in the house, and I only know what’s happening right in front of me,” Lindsay explained during Monday night’s episode. “And so, to sit back and see things that I’ve never seen before, I’m like, ‘Okay.’ Yeah, it’s very enlightening.”
–Rachel Lindsay breaks down over pressures of being first Black ‘Bachelorette’–
Speaking specifically to Garrett, she called him out, saying, “With me, you were a completely different person, but, like, now that I’ve watched it back, and now that I know what’s up, I didn’t want to give any life into you, your opinions.”
“But I feel like I’m in such a unique position, I have the opportunity to be a spokesperson for African-Americans, for women,” she continued, to applause from the audience. “And I just feel like you had such an amazing opportunity to be surrounded by different people and different cultures, and you didn’t take advantage of that.”
She went on, “I hope that in watching it back, you realize that you were part of something so great.” As Garrett laughed and nodded his agreement, she went on, “But in case you didn’t, please know that you could exit stage left and meet me backstage, and I’d be more than happy to give you a black history lesson and a lesson on women’s rights, you know what I’m saying?”
As the audience nearly drowned out Lindsay’s words with applause, Garrett said, “Yes, ma’am.”
As for Garrett, when asked about his racist and sexist comments, he said, “I am grateful that I have people in my life now that make me not like I was when I made a racist comment. I completely denounce that, and I denounce that Lee, and I want to learn.”
He continued to apologize to the rest of the men, saying, “I’m sorry for saying things when I was not educated and ignorant in those subjects.”
