Jenn Tran is commenting on the racism she received about being the first-ever Asian Bachelorette .
The upcoming Bachelorette went on Call Her Daddy on June 26 to discuss her experience on the show, and what it was like dating 25 men, with host Alex Cooper. In the conversation between the two, Jenn addressed the vile racism that came after her casting was announced during After the Final Rose of Joey Graziadei's Bachelor season.
Jenn was on season 28 of The Bachelor which was Joey's season. She vied for the tennis instructor's heart but was eliminated in episode seven before the hometown visits. Joey ended up proposing to Kelsey Anderson. And now Jenn's journey of love will air next month on ABC. She is also Vietnamese-American and a physician assistant student in Miami.
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"There's no running around it. I came back from filming and there was a lot of people wanting somebody else or wishing that I was American," Jenn said on the podcast. "There's a lot of racism around it too. There's just a lot of people who want to have input on it and and wish that it was somebody else and whatnot. I think that you just can't win."
"I lived my whole life having some people telling me racism doesn't exist. Like, Asians don't have to deal with it. Like, you're the better minority. Nobody cares," The PA student continued. "To have these things about me said online, particularly about my race, it just validates the fact that there is so much hate in people's hearts still. "
"It's still such a prevalent thing in this day. I'm happy to take on the brunt of it if it means that I'm making a change for people that are going to come after me," Jenn ended.
Unfortunately, the series and fandom have been riddled with racism and vitriol towards contestants of color. The franchise took 15 years to finally cast its first non-white lead and there's only been a handful of leads of color since (and before Jenn).
Previous interviews with former Black contestants have emphasized the problem the show has with race as well. Longtime host Chris Harrison exited the show in 2021 after his controversial Extra interview with Rachel Lindsey, the first-ever Black Bachelorette, where he defended winner Rachel Kirkconnell of Matt James' season (who was the first-ever Black Bachelorette) attending an antebellum-themed fraternity formal as well as her problematic past social media likes.
Just this year in an ABC panel with Bachelor producers, a journalist asked them a question about the racial issues rooted in the show which they dodged with their response. When asked again, the producers were silent.
During The Women Tell All episode of Joey's season, contestant Rachel Nance, whose mother is Filipino and father is Black and Arab, emotionally discussed the racism she received after the airing of the hometown episode: “I got a lot of hateful messages ... calling me the N-word or jungle Asian, all because I got a rose,” Nance said.
In a first-person essay for New York Magazine (specifically Vulture), Rachel Lindsay talked about why she left the franchise and addressed a specific subgroup of Bachelor fans differentiating them from Bachelor Nation.
“There is a Bachelor Nation, and there is a Bachelor Klan. Bachelor Klan is hateful, racist, misogynistic, xenophobic, and homophobic," The attorney said. "They are afraid of change They are afraid to be uncomfortable. They are afraid when they get called out."
Fans can catch Jenn's season on July 8th on ABC at 8 p.m. EST.
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