Kaitlyn Bristoweis weighing in on the controversy surrounding fellowBacheloralumTaylor Nolanafter offensive tweets of hers recently resurfaced online.
On Monday, Bristowe, 35, addressed Nolan’sdecade-old tweetsthat circulated over the weekend on Reddit and Twitter. In Nolan’s posts, which were shared between 2011 and 2012 when she was a teenager, Nolan insulted minority groups such as Jews, Asian Americans and Indians and used several homophobic and fatphobic slurs.
Nolan, who appeared onNick Viall’s season 21 ofThe Bachelorand season 4 ofBachelor In Paradise, later apologized for her actions and asked for “grace,” for which she also received backlash.
Kaitlyn Bristowe; Taylor Nolan.Frazer Harrison/Getty Images; Desiree Stone/WireImage
Taylor Nolan.Bob D’Amico via Getty Images
TheDancing with the Starschampion, who welcomed Nolan as a guest on herOff the Vinepodcastlast year, noted that she had received messages from fans criticizing her for not quickly speaking out against Nolan’s tweets. But Bristowe said she needed time to process the controversy.
“I myself have to think, digest, read what she said. And you know what, it really bothered me,” she said. “I really just needed to take a second and not react with emotion to that, because it was really disturbing.”
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On Sunday, Nolanapologized for the tweetsin a30-minute video she posted on Instagram. Alongside the video, she posted a lengthy caption in which she reiterated her regret over the tweets.
“My tweets from ten years ago are s—-y, they suck, they were wrong, and are hurtful,” Nolan captioned her video. “I want to be clear that they don’t take away from the work I do today, they are literally how I got here to doing this work.”
Nolan, who has been vocal about the need for more diversity within the ABC franchise over the years, went on to say that the tweets “do not invalidate my work today.” She added: “I will always be open to hearing how to do better from my BIPOC counterparts.”
“I hope you can consider giving me some of ~grace~ you push so hard for whiteBacheloralum to receive for things they have in the recent past or present time said and done that were harmful…for the work I’ve been doing the last ten years and currently to unpack internalized racism and fight against things like fat phobia and white supremacy,” she continued.
Taylor Nolan.Taylor Nolan Instagram
Nolan’s resurfaced tweets and subsequent apology came after she and many fellowBachelorfranchise stars condemned longtime hostChris Harrisonfor hiscontroversialExtrainterviewwith former BacheloretteRachel Lindsaylast month. In the interview, Harrison, 49, weighed in on current contestant Rachael Kirkconnell’s resurfaced social media posts, which saw her dressed in Native American attire in costume and attending an antebellum plantation-themed college party in 2018. (Kirkconnell has since issued anapologyand asked those defending her actions to “please stop.")
Harrison received backlash for his failure to denounce Kirkconnell’s behavior andapologizeda couple of days later before announcing he would be “stepping aside” from the franchise for an unspecified amount of time.
Emmanuel Acho has since been been tapped tohost the upcomingAfter the Final Rosespecial, where he will lead a discussion of the conclusion to the current season starringMatt James, the franchise’s first Black lead.
source: people.com
