Source: ABC / abc
A contestant on The Bachelor has taken to social media to apologize for her past defense of a white teen in Blackface.
According to reports, Season 27 contestant Greer Blitzer issued a statement on Tuesday (Jan. 24th) through the Stories feature on her Instagram account after being called out for defending someone’s use of Blackface years earlier. “The journey to love is filled with lessons and these lessons are also made on our journey of growth. In my past, I have made some uneducated, ignorant, and frankly, wrong comments on my social media accounts,” she wrote. “I am deeply sorry to those I have hurt, especially those within the Black community, not because these screenshots have resurfaced, but because I ever shared these harmful opinions at all, she continued. “Time and age do not excuse my actions, but this is not a reflection of who I am today.”
The actions of the 24-year-old medical sales rep from Texas first came to light last September after someone posted tweets from her account on a Reddit forum defending a fellow teenager who opted to dress as Tupac Shakur for Halloween – complete with Blackface. “The students involved didn’t even know what blackface was so my point exactly. It wasn’t an intentional racist act,” she allegedly wrote back in 2016. In another tweet, she allegedly said: “Putting white powder on your face isn’t okay either. That didn’t make the news did it?”
The controversy flared up again on social media as Blitzer received a “First Impression” rose on the premiere episode of the latest season of the ABC reality show from Bachelor Zach Shallcross. There has been no comment from him after Blitzer’s apology statement. It’s not the first time that the show has been tainted by racism allegations. Previous winner Rachel Kirkconnell came under fire after photos of her at an antebellum-South-themed party were brought to light. The host at the time, Chris Harrison, publicly defended her which led to his dismissal from the show.
