Thread by @latimes

“The Bachelor” and “The Bachelorette” have recently had opportunities to redeem their reputations, launching new seasons in the wake of protests over systemic racism.

But increased representation of Black people hasn't led to thoughtful dialogue on race latimes.com/entertainment-…

For much of its 18-year run, “The Bachelor” stood firm against repeated calls to feature a Black lead. (“Big Brother” has also regularly featured predominantly white casts).

And Black houseguests had long complained of being targeted and bullied latimes.com/entertainment-…

And these two weren’t the only reality TV shows with histories of houseguests experiencing racism.

(Back in 2019, we wrote about “Big Brother” and repeated allegations of misconduct from fellow contestants) latimes.com/entertainment-…

Fans had long grown tired of waiting for more representation.

In fact, this summer we wrote👇about a fan-driven social media campaign calling on ABC and Warner Bros. to institute anti-racist measures to prevent issues that’ve marred the show in the past latimes.com/entertainment-…

Film & communications experts, such as Kristen Warner, say producers simply want to add more people of color to their casts but not really acknowledge or deal with race meaningfully, because they feel “it’s such a weighty yoke and it’s not fun" latimes.com/entertainment-…

And other experts say reality TV producers are not only aware of underlying tensions surrounding race, but that some may even exploit them behind-the-scenes for more drama on camera latimes.com/entertainment-…

The casting of @tayshia — "The Bachelorette's" 2nd Black lead in 3 years — offers the franchise an opportunity to move the conversation about race forward on reality TV.

Some observers, however, are doubtful they'll take advantage of it.

Here's why 👇 latimes.com/entertainment-…