Andy DehnartThe Bachelorette contestant Lee Garrett’s incendiary, bigotry-filled tweets and Facebook posts have surfaced. This follows another contestant’s highly problematic answer to a question in his official bio.
Lee, a 30-year-old singer/songwriter, says on his Twitter profile—which is locked to the public, though it’s not clear when it was locked—that he is “Pleasantly Offensive. Facetious.Exceptionally Southern.Entreprenuer.”
People on Twitter have posted screenshots of his tweets, which includes comments about liberals, Islam, gay people, Black Lives Matter, the NAACP, women, and more.
Some are political and controversial; others are offensive, bigoted, racist, and/or misogynistic:
- “What’s the difference between the NAACP and the KKK? Wait for it….. One has the sense of shame to cover their racist ass faces”
- “Never trust a female liberal or a man that owns a cat.”
- “From what I can gather, men hit their sexual peak around 18 and women hit theirs as soon as the divorce is final”
- “When is the last time YOU actually saw a pretty feminist?”
- “Hillary is the millenial’s version of O.J.”
- “After all this ‘gay community’ talk, all these rainbow flags instead of American flags […]”
- “The Orlando terrorist was a devout muslim and registered democrat.”
- “America is becoming an urban Vietnam. Practice your second amendment. It’s there for a reason.”
Several of the posts, including the one about rainbow flags, link to longer Facebook posts that are either not accessible or no longer exist.
The Huffington Post has gathered screenshots of his posts and asks the important questions:
“Why would ABC cast a man who does not seem to think highly of women or people of color to date a beloved lead who is both? Did the casting people simply not look at his Twitter feed? Or did they want to use Garrett’s racial biases to drum up drama among the most racially diverse cast in ‘Bachelorette’ history?”
ABC isn’t commenting, referring questions to Warner Horizon, which produces the show. ABC only cast him and broadcast the show, after all.
Update: Variety reports that:
“An insider tells Variety that the network only learned about the tweets when they were approached by the media on Wednesday, and had no prior knowledge of their existence, despite background checks for contestants who go through a vetting process when being cast on the reality show. Though it seems a broadcaster would thoroughly check social media during casting, Garrett’s accounts are private.”