Becca Kufrin believes her fiancé, Garrett Yrigoyen’s, Instagram post supporting police officers had the ‘wrong time and message and sentiment.’ She spoke with Rachel Lindsay about the post and more on their ‘Bachelor Happy Hour’ podcast.
Becca Kufrin and Rachel Lindsay took necessary time during their June 9 episode of the Bachelor Happy Hour podcast to discuss the ongoing Black Lives Matter movement, the lack of inclusion on the Bachelor franchise, and Becca’s fiancé, Garrett Yrigoyen‘s, latest Instagram post supporting police. “Garrett is my fiancé and I love him and to his core, I believe that he is a good person. What he posted…I don’t align with and I don’t agree with,” the season 14 Bachelorette lead, 30, shared with Rachel, 35 — who was the season 13 lead and remains the only Black person or Person of Color to lead one of the shows.
“I don’t think he meant it in a malicious way, I do think it was tone deaf and it was the wrong time and message and sentiment…I’m trying to get him to see the bigger picture.” After posting a black square to his Instagram account on Black Out Tuesday, Garrett, 31, returned to the social media platform and shared an image of a black square with a blue line running through it, signifying his support for police officers amidst ongoing rallies and peaceful protests for the Black Lives Matter movement. While Garrett shared with Becca that the post was meant to show that he can “stand by the cops too,” and that his post doesn’t simply mean that “cops lives matter,” Rachel disagreed.
“That is what it means. That’s 100 percent what it means. I don’t care what he wrote after it,” Rachel told Becca. “Nothing that I’m about to say is nothing I haven’t already told you. Becca told me not to hold back…As a black woman, it is very important for me to tell you how Garrett’s post made me feel,” Rachel continued. “This is not an isolated accident with Garrett’s behavior and I never spoke about what Garrett did during your season. Following Becca’s season finale, Garrett was called out for ‘liking’ posts that mocked the Parkland High School shooting survivors and ridiculed members of the LGBTQIA+ community.
“I never spoke about it and it was out of respect for you and your relationship…To me, this is what Garrett thinks, this is what Garrett is. He posted a black box. He never said ‘black lives matter.’ He posted fists of every color, which to me is like, ‘Everybody, all lives.’ And then the very next post is the thin blue line with a heartfelt, thought-out caption that he said with his chest. And to me, that is what you feel and that is what you believe. I don’t think Garrett is malicious, but Garrett is what the problem is.”
“I don’t understand why people are just now getting it,” Rachel continued. “We’ve f—king been going through this s—t. I don’t understand why you say, ‘It wasn’t malicious’ or ‘I’m just now understanding things.’ You have to admit that you made a choice to not see it…A message what Garrett posted totally contradicts the movement that we’re trying to push forward. And to see so many people ‘like’ it…the thinking that Garrett has is a bigger problem.”
Instead of being covert, Rachel said that she would “rather somebody blatantly be racist.” She continued to explain that the “problem is the people who don’t realize what they’re doing is a form of racism, the problem is people who are putting things out there against the movement and the problem is doing things that perpetuate and play into a particular behavior, which is why I have an issue with the Bachelor franchise,” she said.
Along with critiquing Garrett’s post, Rachel and Becca also discussed the lack of inclusion the Bachelor franchise has seen over the years, something that Rachel has been incredibly vocal about ever since her season in 2017. “You used to cast for the lead,” Rachel said during the beginning half of the podcast episode.
“Now here we are with qualified candidates who make it far…so now what is the reason? You’ve built a franchise that perpetuates and mirrors what is wrong in our society.” Rachel also added that she is “tired” of the franchise not having her back when it comes to any support. She also pointed out that there have been a number of times that contestants and alums have made racist statements and the show has not spoken out or released a statement to condemn their words and/or actions. “I am tired of having to be the Black person against things that are done to Black people; it should be the franchise.”
Episodes of the Bachelor Happy Hour podcast drop every Tuesday wherever you listen to podcasts.