The Bachelor is a cinematic universe under siege: from a dramatic switch-up in contestants on The Bachelorette, to ongoing covid-19 precautions across the reality television industry. In the middle of this whirlwind, ABC has released the first teaser trailer for Matt James’s groundbreaking new season.
For a decade, The Bachelor universe has been accused of rampant racism, from the behavior of its contestants to the casting decisions made by producers. In the wake of the uprisings earlier this year, ABC has made more overt plays to rectify this public image. After Clare Crawley’s dramatic exit with fellow contestant Dale Moss in the early days of her season of The Bachelorette, producers brought on Tayshia Adams, the show’s second—yes, second!—Black Bachelorette. With her season in full swing, producers have dropped a new trailer for The Bachelor, which features its first-ever Black Bachelor Matt James.
The trailer tells me nothing, except that he is hot, and charming, as are the women who will fall over him all season.
I’m more stunned than anything that in 24 seasons of this show, he is the first-ever Black Bachelor, and only the third Black lead to appear in 40 combined seasons of The Bachelor and The Bachelorette. Regardless, his season will premiere in one million years, on January 4, if everyone even makes it that far.