Well here's the gist of it:
Quote:
The complaint alleges that, in 16 seasons of "The Bachelor" and seven seasons of "The Bachelorette" (the eighth season is slated to begin airing in May), the defendants have never featured "a single person of color ... in the central role." The suit also alleges that the few people of color who have been chosen to compete are often eliminated after the first few rose ceremonies.
Basically everybody being featured in the main spot is white. Not only that but most of the contestants are white as well. Now add in some provocative quotes:
Quote:
"It's as if [the network] is afraid they could lose advertisers by showing interracial dating."
Quote:
"I think Ashley [Hebert] is 1/16th Cherokee Indian, but I cannot confirm. But that is my suspicion! We really tried, but sometimes we feel guilty of tokenism. Oh, we have to wedge African-American chicks in there! We always want to cast for ethnic diversity, it's just that for whatever reason, they don't come forward. I wish they would."
Quote:
"If the plaintiffs win and you see an African-American Bachelorette, would there be a stigma associated with her? She's only there because the lawsuit said she had to be there."
Quote:
"I'm surprised that someone like Fleiss didn't at least see the revenue potential of expanding the cast," GarcÃa said. "Why wouldn't you feature a successful African-American man or woman?" Not to mention the fact that "a meaningful multicultural dating show ... would more closely reflect modern interaction," he added.
... and you have yourself a controversy.
So anyway do you think the plaintiffs have a leg to stand on? Is there any point of showing interracial dating if no one wants to see it? Do we even care? Fears of the poor bachelor being put on the spot in a future season because he turned down the black chick? Does this still bother people in this day and age?
Choose one
This is blown way out of proportion.: | 14 (35.9%) | |
Legitimate gripe, sue 'em.: | 2 (5.1%) | |
Interracial stuff is icky either way.: | 1 (2.6%) | |
Why aren't there more fat chicks on the show?: | 22 (56.4%) | |
Total: | 39 |
This is one of those things I always watch with mild interest, hence my bringing it up in thread form I guess. I never caught more than a few episodes myself, and can't really consider myself a 'fan' of the series. As for the whole interracial dating thing, I'm about 13 years and two children past the point where that would be an issue for me, but often wonder how many people see it as something more unusual. Would the ratings dip if the bachelor was a black guy? What about Asian? I dunno, they're trying to sell a product I guess?
Thoughts?
Edited, Apr 20th 2012 9:54am by someproteinguy