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For the past 15 years, ABC's The Bachelor franchise has beguiled America with its blend of sponsored fantasy and structured reality, while also being glaringly white. At best, its relationship with race has been noncommital and, at worst, toxic. If people of color do make it past casting – some seasons had zero minorities – they usually don't last. Latinxs, East and South Asians remain a rarity on the reality series (though half-Asian women fare well once they're there) and, according to a 2016 analysis, most black contestants are gone within two weeks.

Then,...

2017-06-29T05:09:29-07:00'Bachelorette' Rachel Lindsay Talks About Interracial Dating

The Bachelorette contestants addressed the pressures of interracial dating on this week's episode, and the conversations did not go how many viewers — or star Rachel Lindsay — might have expected.

More than one of the men competing for Lindsay's heart unveiled his personal dating history with women of color, engaging in an open discussion of when and how they should tell Lindsay, the first black Bachelorette in the show's history.

Will Gaskins, a 28-year-old black contestant, was particularly vocal on the subject during Tuesday's episode, telling his fellow housemate that Lindsay does "not look like the people that I've been dating for the past couple years." The Miami sales manager then went on to say that he typically dates white girls. "It's not like I don't date black girls. I have," he said. "But growing up where I grew up,...

2017-06-22T12:50:55-07:00Was 'Bachelor in Paradise' Scandal About Race?

Now that Bachelor in Paradise has resumed filming, one of the contestants on The Bachelorette is speaking out on how he believes race played a factor in the conversations about DeMario Jackson sparked by the controversy.

Will Gaskins, 28, who is currently a contestant on Rachel Lindsay's Bachelorette, knows Jackson from filming together on the ABC reality series. Jackson, who was eliminated in the show's third week, and Bachelor star Corinne Olympios are the two main parties at the center of the firestorm that has been surrounding the ABC franchise.

Gaskins, who has also intervened in the ongoing racially charged dispute playing out on The Bachelorette, believes that race played a factor in the probe that temporarily suspended production on the upcoming fourth season of Paradise. Before producers Warner Bros. Television announced on Tuesday that their internal investigation found no evidence of the alleged misconduct first reported by a producer on the show's Mexico set, the now-national news story had raised questions about consent. The alleged sexual encounter that was being investigated happened between Jackson, a black contestant, and Olympios, a white contestant, and each had been drinking heavily.

Read the rest of this article at The Hollywood Reporter.

Rachel Lindsay is the first African-American lead on any Bachelor franchise series.

The Bachelorette contestant Will Gaskins, who is currently vying for Rachel Lindsay's heart on this

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The Bachelorette contestant Will Gaskins, who is currently vying for Rachel Lindsay's heart on this season of ABC's franchise, says that the fact that DeMario Jackson was black was a reason the Bachelor in Paradise scandal blew up.

Gaskins hopped on social media once production of Bachelor in

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Bachelor in Paradise has the full support of many of its stars as it resumes filming.

Warner Bros. and ABC confirmed on Tuesday that the dating show would restart production on season four, after no misconduct was found in the incident between Corinne Olympios and DeMario Jackson. Hours later, cast members told Et that filming would start again in Mexico as soon as this week. 

Watch: What's Next for 'Bachelor in Paradise' Post-Scandal:...

2017-06-06T05:49:26-07:00Controversial Contestant Stirs Trouble on 'The Bachelorette'

Monday night brought out the worst in more than one contestant on The Bachelorette.

After stumbling upon a heated conversation with two of his housemates, Eric Bigger and Iggy Rodriguez, contestant Lee Garrett warned Bachelorette Rachel Lindsay about Bigger.

The episode ended on a "To be continued" note and scenes for next week show escalating tension when one of the black contestants, Will Gaskins, is seen explaining to Garrett, who is white, why it's offensive to call a black man "aggressive."

The racially charged episode comes on the heels of recent revelations about Garrett, a self-described country boy from Nashville. In posts that have since been deleted from his social media accounts, viewers online uncovered tweets Garrett had allegedly sent in 2015 and 2016 that were racist, sexist and offensive to the Lgbt community.

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