'Bachelor' Contestant Embroiled in Racial Controversy (Again)
by EG
One of the contestants on The Bachelor is wrapped up in a race-related controversy, something that's not at all unprecedented in Bachelor Nation. Cosmopolitan magazine has backed out of a proposed cover featuring Bachelor contestant Victoria Fuller. The problem is Fuller's association with "white lives matter," a movement that has been accused of being racist. Read on for details.
Monday night's episode of The Bachelor featured a group date competition where the winner was offered the chance to appear on a future cover of Cosmopolitan magazine. Victoria Fuller ended up winning the Costa Rica fashion shoot competition, which was filmed months ago, and the ABC series showed her and Bachelor Peter Weber posing for Cosmo's cameras for an upcoming issue.
On Tuesday, however, Cosmo's Editor in Chief Jessica Pels, who appeared on the episode, announced that the magazine would not be running the digital cover as planned. (The magazine had already printed the fashion shoot in its March issue along with a cover inset, but would not be publishing the digital cover on its website or social feeds.)
In an editor's letter titled "Why Weâre Not Publishing the Cosmo âBachelorâ Cover," Pels explained that they pulled the digital cover because Fuller had previously modeled for a "white lives matter"-themed ad campaign.
"As you probably know, the details about upcoming plot points on The Bachelor are as closely guarded as nuclear codes. When my team and I flew down to Costa Rica for our challenge, we werenât told who our models were going to be," she explained. "So when it came time for me to choose the winner of the challenge â whose prize was a digital cover of Cosmo â all I knew about the contestants were their first names and the energy they conveyed through the camera lens. It wasnât until a few weeks ago that I found out that the woman Iâd chosen had, in her past, modeled in an ad campaign wearing White Lives Matter attire."
Referencing a report that the campaign was for a Marlin Lives Matter organization that used âwhite lives matterâ and âblue lives matterâ messaging, Pels added, "In my view, the nature of the organization is neither here nor there â both phrases and the belief systems they represent are rooted in racism and therefore problematic."
Get the rest of the story at The Hollywood Reporter.
Do you think Cosmo should have pulled the cover? Let us know in the comments below.