‘Bachelor’ Contestant Greer Blitzer Apologizes for Defending Blackface

Greer Blitzer, a contestant on the current season of The Bachelor, has once again apologized for her past social media posts in which she defended wearing blackface.

The posts in question went viral back in January, after Blitzer had received Zach Shallcross’ coveted first impression rose during The Bachelor’s season premiere, and it became just the latest in a long line of racist scandals for the ABC reality franchise. At the time, the 24-year-old Texas native apologized on Instagram for her insensitive tweets, but addressed them for the first time on the show during Tuesday’s “Women Tell All” special.

After host Jesse Palmer invited Blitzer—who was eliminated from the show during week six after contracting COVID-19—to the hot seat, she said, “I’ve been wanting to address this. I don’t want to sweep it under the rug. What happened was racist. It’s not about the intent; it’s about the impact.”

Blizter’s tweets, which she allegedly sent in 2016, seemed to be partially in defense of former high school classmates who had worn blackface. “The students involved didn’t even know what blackface was so my point exactly. It wasn’t an intentional racist act,” she wrote in one of the tweets. Another read: “This previous incident was dumb not racist? She did not paint herself black because she felt superior to black ppl.” Another tweet: “Putting white powder on your face isn’t okay either. That didn’t make the news did it?”

On Tuesday evening’s episode, Blitzer explained in front of a studio audience, “This acquaintance of mine that I knew performing blackface was racist, me defending it was racist, my ignorance was racist, and I’m just so ashamed. … I’m just deeply sorry that I hurt the Black community. I can’t go back in time. All I can do is try to be better now and try to do better in my future.”

As any Bachelor fan unfortunately knows by now, the franchise has been plagued by racism-related controversies in recent years. Just last year, The Bachelorette winner Erich Schwer faced backlash for wearing blackface in a high school yearbook photo—a decision he apologized for on Instagram, but which was never brought up on the show’s “After the Final Rose” special.

Before that, the first Black Bachelor, Matt James, had his 2021 season soured by a controversy in which former host Chris Harrison defended a female contestant who attended an Antebellum South-themed party in 2018. The scandal ultimately led to Harrison’s ouster from the show.

Notably, during Tuesday’s “Women Tell All” episode, Charity Lawson was named the next Bachelorette, becoming the fifth Black lead in the franchise’s history.