Former Bachelor producer claims the franchise avoided diversity: Women with afros or braids wouldn't be cast

TheWrap

In an open letter to ABC, ex-producer Jazzy Collins, who joined The Bachelor franchise with Rachel Lindsay's Bachelorette season, says that the series wouldn’t look at casting men or women of color beyond “the token Black person, Asian person or Latinx person to satisfy what you believe to be the needs of the viewers.” Collins adds she didn't see any diversity changes after Lindsay's casting. “My hope was that having a racially diverse cast of gentlemen would be an important milestone that would continue into the future," she wrote. "That was not the case. Your show has white-washed for decades, inside and out. Your head of post-production is white. Your casting director is white. Your executive in charge is white. I am calling on you to select a diverse cast and production team for season 25 of The Bachelor and moving forward. Not only is it important to have a diverse cast reflect what the rest of America looks like, it’s important for the production and casting teams to be able to share the same experiences as the cast members.”