Why Chris Harrison’s Cancellation is a Problem for Us All

Last week, after months of frenzied media and Bachelor Nation speculation, we finally learned the status of Chris Harrison and The Bachelor franchise’s future relationship, and it is that, indeed, no final rose would be given. Harrison and the reality dating series parted ways in the fallout from controversial comments he made during an on-air discussion with a former Bachelorette contestant, Rachel Lindsay, about recent reports that another contestant, Rachael Kirkconnell, had attended an Antebellum plantation themed fraternity party in 2018. For nearly 20 years, Harrison’s presence as host on the series has been just as iconic to The Bachelor brand as the sobbing limousine confessionals of rejected suitors, so his departure came as a surprise to many. 

His comments must have been pretty egregious to result in the separation of the popular franchise from their biggest star, in what had thus far been a (profitable) match made in Bachelor paradise. A quick scan of the headlines seems to support this assumption, labeling his comments as “racially insensitive,” “defending racist behaviors,” and “disqualifying behavior.” If you didn’t watch the problematic interview when it first aired, you may be curious to find out just what the media savvy, entertainment veteran Chris Harrison could have possibly said to warrant such an outcry. Here it is: “I haven’t heard Rachael speak on this yet, and until I actually hear this woman have a chance to speak, who am I to say any of this?…but where is this lens we are holding up and was that lens available and were we all looking through it in 2018?” So, in other words, Chris Harrison’s ‘disqualifying behavior’ was simply a call for nuance and the Bachelor franchise was wrong to split ways over it. 

I am not particularly concerned about the future of The Bachelor or even the fate of Chris Harrison. It is reported that he will walk away from his contract with an eight figure settlement, so he’ll be just fine. What I am concerned about is the public discourse around whether Harrison’s comments warranted his removal from the Bachelor franchise. Was his appeal for nuance really so inappropriate and offending that he needed to lose his job? Absolutely not. In fact, I would argue that his plea to the masses for understanding before appointing themselves “judge, jury, and executioner” is exactly the kind of discussion that we need to be having today.  

Let’s step back and break down what happened in that February interview in order to put Harrison’s comments into context. Rachel Lindsay asked Harrison his thoughts on the Rachael Kirkconnell controversy, regarding pictures which had surfaced on social media that showed the Bachelor contestant at an Antebellum “Old South” plantation-themed formal in 2018. His response was that, first and foremost, he didn’t know what judgment to make, because Kirkconnell had not yet spoken out to explain her actions. He felt the public should show a little grace and compassion by not tearing her life apart before they had a chance to hear her side of the story. At no point did he excuse the troubling nature of an Antebellum plantation themed dance, nor did he say that Kirkconnell should be excused of accountability for her attendance. In fact, he acknowledged multiple times that it was problematic and advocated for the space for discourse before we, as a collective society, reduced Kirkconnell into a label that could be conveniently sorted and placed in one of our judgement boxes. But you might have missed this key detail in the resulting firestorm that came immediately after this interview aired, where any attempt to understand his comments was burned away in the heat of outrage and Harrison, himself, became a casualty of the same steam roller he had been advocating against, the one which flattens people into caricatures of either good or bad. 

It is this assault on nuance that is the most problematic aspect of Chris Harrison’s cancellation. We are in a period of time in America that feels particularly divided. From politics and presidents, to pandemics and masks, from police shooting protests to the Capitol riots, we are suffering from the effects of the poison we swallow when one side doesn’t try to understand the other.  Nuance is the antidote. In order for us to accurately understand the behaviors and intentions of other people, it is imperative to see them as more than a strawman that we construct in stark shades of black and white, that can easily be knocked down with our righteous indignation. The world rarely works in absolutes.  Not all Trump supporters are racist. Not all Black Lives Matters supporters are anti-police. Not everyone who refuses to wear a mask is anti-science. There is a lot of messy gray in the world and if we are to successfully grapple with the complex social issues that face our country, nuance has to be part of the conversation. 

In the days after the interview aired, after Harrison had offered his apologies and announced he would be temporarily stepping aside from his hosting job, Rachel Lindsay released a thoughtful insight into the nature of the controversy. She argued that this interview needed to be seen and heard as it is “important to further and highlight these types of discussions. The only way to do that is to have these uncomfortable conversations, so we can understand the underlying issues and implicit racism that exists within our society.” Yet critics of Harrison categorized his comments as blatantly bigoted and labeled his call for grace and understanding as defending racist behavior. His attempt at bringing nuance to the situation was criticized as racist-sympathizing and, ultimately, it cost him his job. We should all be mourning the cancellation of Chris Harrison, not because we care about a reality dating show, but rather, because the opportunities for understanding and growth are lost when nuanced is attacked.